§ The EARL OF DERBYsaid, it would be in the recollection of their Lordships that last Session he had taken occasion to raise a question as to the validity of a patent which had been granted to a gentleman named Roche, constituting him Baron Fermoy, in the peerage of Ireland; and the ground of objection he took to the patent was, that there had not then become extinct the three Irish peerages necessary to enable Her Majesty to create a new one. The question involved considerations of great legal and constitutional importance; and he (the Earl of Derby) then proposed that the matter should be referred to a Committee of Privileges. It had, however, been suggested that upon Baron Fermoy presenting his petition in the ordinary way, praying that he might be allowed to substantiate his right to vote for a representative Peer for Ireland, the question would more properly arise. He had waited, therefore, for the commencement of the present Session, and he had I been given to understand by the noble Earl the President of the Council, that in the course of a few days Lord Fermoy's petition would be presented. Fortunately the case was now deprived of all personal interest as far as the noble Lord was concerned. Lord Fermoy could not now be affected in the slightest degree by the result of the inquiry; for since last Session another Irish peerage had become extinct, and consequently the only difference the inquiry would make to the noble Lord I would be whether his peerage was to date I from 1855 or 1856. He (the Earl of Derby) wished to ask his noble Friend whether there was any reason to believe that the petition of Lord Fermoy would in a short time be presented? If it were not so presented before the end of a fortnight, he should move that the subject should be referred to a Committee of Privileges.
§ EARL GRANVILLEsaid, that before the opening of the present Session he had received a letter from Lord Fermoy expressing his earnest desire that that question should be brought to a decision as soon 449 as possible, and asking him (Earl Granville) whether he concurred in his feeling upon the subject. He had answered that question in the affirmative, and had requested Lord Fermoy to desire his legal adviser to call on him in London. He had seen that gentleman; and from his interview with him he had found that a petition in favour of Lord Fermoy's claim had been drawn up last Session, but had since been mislaid, and that another would be immediately prepared. He (Earl Granville) was in daily expectation that that petition would be laid before the House; and he took it for granted that their Lordships would receive it previously to the expiration of the fortnight, at the end of which period his noble Friend had given notice that he would bring forward his Motion.