Sir John Trelawny, 1st Baronet

The King was anxious to influence the election of MPs so as to secure a more pliable Parliament, and in Cornwall efforts on his behalf were being directed by one James Bagg, acting in concert with the Duke of Buckingham.

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.

After hearing counsel's arguments on both sides, the House committed Trelawny and another offender, Walter Langdon, to the Tower of London, both for the original offence and for their contempt of Parliament in failing to answer the summons.

They had already secured a peerage for Trelawny's brother-in-law John Mohun, who had also been summoned by the Commons as one of the candidates in whose favour the controversial letters had been written.

Trelawny and Langdon had petitioned the King for their release from the Tower, but he was not willing directly to defy the privileges of the Commons, and took no action while the House was sitting.