The Sun.
London, England, 1866-03-23 00:00:00

the conspiracy which had just occurred bad
nothing to do with the Phoenix Conspiracy.
They were the same, however, under different
names. This shows how determined Mr.
LAWSON was to contradict Mr. 'WHITESIDE
coute qui coute. The only difference between
these two conspiracies was that, during
the years which intervened between them,
the latter one gained strength owing to the thou-
sands of men who were disbanded in Ireland. Sir
ROBERT PEEL tried the vehement style, and was
ready to do battle in the cause of the Government,
and actually went the length of saying that the
1 Government had acted with firmness, discretion,
1 and judgment. As for the management of the prison,
he boldly asked, " Does the right hon. gentleman
opposite mean to say that the Government, with
all the burden of current events on their shoulders,
could go to these gaols and see that the officials
properly discharged their duties ?" After all, how-
ever, it would seem, upon Sir ROBERT PEEL'S
own showing, that there was great ignorance pre-
vailing. He said that the Irish Government were
under the impression that the military guard were
still at the prison, and did not know that Mr.
MARQUESS had sent them back. However, exertion
was used at last, for we are told that, immediately
when information of the escape of STEPHENS reached
the Government, Sir R. PEEL went to the prison
with Colonel LAKE, and made arrangements for
the removal of the other prisoners ; but surely this
was very like following the plan of shutting the
stable door, &c., for it mattered little in comparison
who was left when the chief prisoner was gone. _

We may fairly conclude that the remarks of Mr.
BAILLIE very fitly summed up the tenour of the de-
bate. He Arad that they had heard the Attorney-
General and the Solicitor-General that night, but
the only thing that they proved was that things
were done differently in Ireland from what would
be allowed in any other country in the world.
Certainly there is great truth in this, especially as
regards the case of the Irish People, which
was suffered to continue, despite what was
known of its seditious character. "But the
law officers said that they knew better, and
that there were State reasons why these things
should be allowed to go on for two years, and that
then they made a grand coup, and put it all down."
We entirely agree with the hon. member that, if
this is the mode in which the Government of Ireland
was conducted, it was a " mode which was not
adopted in any other country in the world." We
can see nothing in anything that has transpired of
the official management for the Government
members to plume themselves upon ; but
perhaps they think that if they cannot
explain things in a statisfactory style, they had
better go to the other extreme, and declare that all
is perfectly correct. It is quite a new thing, at
any rate, for hon. gentlemen in Government offices
to be so proud of the management which allowed
a prisoner to escape, and to be so anxious for the
House to inquire into the particulars of the mode
in which it was done. We should advise them to
try bad management next time, for the result could
not be worse.