The plot being ripe, Watson, Thistlewood, Preston, and Hooper, were committed to the Tower for high treason. On the other hand, meetings were held in Westminster, and in the city of London, to petition against the suspension of the Habeas Corpus Act. The following petition of mine was also presented to the House of Lords, by Lord Holland. I was below the bar at the time his Lordship presented it, immediately before Lord Sidmouth rose to move the passing of the Seditious Meetings Bill, and I shall never forget the look that his Lordship, the Secretary of State, gave me; for I stood right in front of the bar, and within a few yards of him. "To the Lords Spiritual and Temporal of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, in Parliament assembled. "The Petition of Henry Hunt, of Middleton Cottage, in the County of Southampton, "HUMBLY SHEWETH, "That your petitioner, who had the honour to be the mover of the petitions at the recent meetings held in Spafields, one of which petitions has been received by his Royal Highness the Prince Regent, and two of which petitions have been presented to, and received by, the Honourable the House of Commons, has read, in the public prints, a paper entitled a Report of the Secret Committee of your Right Honourable House, and which Report appears to your petitioner, as far as his humble powers of disentanglement have enabled him to analyse the same, to submit to your Right Honourable House, as solemn truths, the following assertions; to wit: "That the first public meeting in Spafields, which had for its ostensible object a petition for relief and Reform, was closely connected with, and formed part of, a Conspiracy to produce an insurrection for the purpose of overthrowing the Government. "2. That Spafields was fixed upon as the place of assembling, on account of its vicinity to the Bank and the Tower; and that, for this same reason, _'care was taken_ to adjourn the meeting to the 2d of December, by which time it was hoped that preparations for the surrection would be fully matured.' "3. That, at this second meeting, flags, banners, and all the ensigns of insurrection, were displayed, and that, finally, an insurrection was begun by _persons collected_ _in the Spafields_, and that notwithstanding the ultimate object was then frustrated, _the same designs still continue to be prosecuted with sanguine hopes of success_. "4. That a large quantity of Pike-heads had been ordered of one individual, and that 250 had actually been made and paid for. "5. That _Delegates from Hampden Clubs in the Country_ have met in London, and that they are _expected_ to meet again in March.