 Two of the King's most implacable opponents, William Coryton and Sir John Eliot, had announced their intention of standing for election as knights of the shire for Cornwall, and Bagg arranged for a caucus of influential Cornish magistrates to mobilise against them.They not only used the official posts to promote alternative candidates and attempted to instruct the High Sheriff (Trelawny himself was High Sheriff of Cornwall in 1630) who he should return as elected, but they wrote open letters to the freeholders of the county appealing that they should not elect Coryton or Eliot, and to Eliot and Coryton themselves, warning them against persisting with their candidacy.These letters were signed by all the magistrates concerned, of whom Trelawny was one.