Mr. Bennetheld in his hand a Petition, which, as the language of it was respectful to that House, he thought it was his duty to present, though, he begged to say, he had not known, till within these few days, that the individual from whom it came was in existence. It was from a person of the name of Evans, lately residing in Newcastle-street, but now a prisoner in the House of Correction, on a charge of high treason. It set forth, that in the year 1798 the petitioner was arrested under a warrant, signed by the late duke of Portland, committed to prison, and kept in confinement three years. While in such confinement he was denied all access to, or intercourse with his friends; and further, which was a severe punishment, as he understood the petitioner to be a literary man, he was not permitted to read or write. He saw no one, but was shut up in a solitary cell during the whole of that period. In consequence all his prospects were ruined, and he had, in a great measure, subsisted on the charity of the late sir R. Ford. On the 9th of the present month the petitioner had been arrested, with his son, on a charge of high treason. He denied being concerned in, or privy to any treasonable practices. He stated himself to be librarian to the Spencean Society, but he most solemnly denied that the society was connected with any body of men who entertained designs against the state, or that he or them had interfered on the subject of the public grievances and parliamentary reform. The prayer of the petitioner was, that the bill for the suspension of the Habeas Corpus act might not be passed into a law, as he feared, if this were done, he might again be placed under it, in the situation he had described, as he was when the Habeas Corpus act was formerly suspended.
§ The petition was read, and ordered to lie on the table.