BILL FOR THE COMMEMORATION OF THE PEOPLE’S RIGHTS, ETC.
On the 24th of March Mr. Beaufoy moved for leave to bring in a bill “to establish a perpetual anniversary thanksgiving to Almighty God, for having, by the glorious revolution, delivered this nation from arbitrary power, and to commemorate annually the confirmation of the people’s rights.” It was argued in opposition to this bill, that the event was sufficiently commemorated in the form of prayer appointed for the 5th of November; but the house seemed to think otherwise, for the bill was not only brought in, but carried through all its stages, and sent up to the lords. In the lords, however, it met with a more successful opposition; for, on the motion of Bishop Bangor, who pointed out the several parts of the service of the 5th of November, which had been added and altered, for the purpose of commemorating the revolution, the bill was thrown out without being once read; a ceremony to which a bill proposed by a peer is considered as a matter of right, and which is usually accorded to any measure sent up to the lords by the commons, as a matter of courtesy.