THE EARL OF LEITRIMrose, pursuant to notice, to ask the First Lord of the Treasury if it was his intention to recommend to Her Majesty to confer any Honour, Distinction, or Dignity on the right Hon. Richard Pennefather, late Baron of the Exchequer in Ireland, for his long and meritorious Services? The whole of the bar of Ireland, the solicitors of Ireland, and many of the grand juries had borne testimony to the worth, the honesty, and uprightness of this learned Judge. Mr. Baron Pennefather, who had been thirty-eight years on the bench, had won the good opinion of all parties in a country where they were not always unanimous in their feelings with regard to private or public persons. He had not taken any part in politics that could be distasteful to any party; had he been a partisan, indeed, he might at this moment have been in a higher position. He trusted that the noble Earl would seriously consider whether he would not feel himself at liberty to recommend Her Majesty to confer some distinction, honour, or dignity, upon Mr. Baron Pennefather.
§ THE EARL OF DERBYIf the object of my noble Friend on the cross benches was 811 to offer, as he has done, a graceful tribute to the merits of Mr. Baron Pennefather, or to elicit similar marks of admiration and respect from those of your Lordships now present, more especially from the noble Lord the late Lord Lieutenant of Ireland (the Earl of Carlisle) and the noble and learned Lord (Lord Campbell), who as the Irish Lord Chancellor, had so long an opportunity of becoming acquainted with the merits of Baron Pennefather, he has, I must say, amply succeeded in his object, and I should be the last to refuse my tribute of respect. Mr. Baron Pennefather is, I believe, the object of universal respect and esteem; and, notwithstanding the painful infirmities with which he was afflicted, and which would have almost totally disqualified any other person of such advanced age from the due discharge of his duties, yet, up to the moment of his retirement from the bench, few, if any, of the learned Judges were able to sum up a case, or give an opinion or a judgment more clearly, more fully, or more distinctly than Baron Pennefather. With regard to his uprightness and integrity, they ought not to be very rare virtues, yet I may say that I never heard the slightest imputation with regard to one or the other, and as to his abilities and character as a Judge, I never heard but one opinion. Having said thus much, I am not aware that—honoured as he was by all on his retirement — either Baron Pennefather, or his friends, or any of his family desire or expect that any signal honour should be conferred upon him on the part of the Crown. I hope my noble Friend will excuse me for saying that the subject is one to be dealt with not by this House, but by the Crown alone, and I must respectfully decline answering the question.
§ House adjourned at half-past Seven o'clock, to Monday next, Eleven o'clock.