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London, April 5. - The case of Oscar Wilde against the Marquis of Queensberry for libel was brought to a close this morning. The verdict was in favor of the defendant. The jury found not only that the defendant not guilty of libel, but in a subsidiary verdict declared that Queensberry's charges of immoral practices were true and had been made for public good. Wilde was then placed under arrest.

The Herald's European edition publishes the following from its correspondent:

LONDON, April 5, 1895. Oscar Wilde, who for twenty years has, after one fashion or another, attracted to himself the attention of the cultivated world of both England and America and who posed by turns as a languorous aesthete, a caustic cynic. and a producer of brilliant epigrams and witty paradoxes. is tonight the occupant of a Bow Street Police Court cell on a charge which, in the eyes of most honest men, is more odious than even that of murder.

Yesterday was a day of sensationalism, which though some of its startling enacts were carefully prepared in advance by master hands, was in its essence intensely dramatic.

Thus I am told on the best authority that an arrangement as to Wilde`s withdrawal from the prosecution was arrived at between counsel late on Thursday night. Mr. Carson, however, insisted he should be allowed to continue his address to the jury long enough to bring out such essential facts as be deemed necessary.

Indeed. the signal for Sir Edward Clarke's rising was actually given by Mr. Carson himself when he thought the proper moment had arrived.

ALL ARRANGED BEFOREHAND.

I also hear the case had already been informally submitted to the Public Prosecutor, and so there was not the least delay in the action taken there was not the least delay in the action taken by that functionary in relation to obtaining a warrant for Wilde's arrest.

Wilde when arrested had been drinking heavily and very nearly fell upon the pavement when he arrived at Scotland Yard. His three hours' detention there, however, somewhat sobered him, and during the journey to Bow street he chatted familiarly with detectives, asking various questions as to the treatment he might expect in the cell, whether he would be seen by friends and so forth. He was somewhat chagrined to find that he would be treated like any ordinary prisoner, and that no indulgence would be allowed him.

WARRANT FOR TAYLOR OUT

Late to-night I hear that detectives have been scouring the city in search or the man Taylor, for whom a warrant has already been signed. He has been under police surveillance for some time, but he was unluckily allowed to slip away early this morning and has not been seen since. It is not expected, however, that he has left the city.

LORD QUEENSBERRY INTERVIEWED

With the placing of the evidence in the hands of the public prosecutor, the case ended as far as Lord Queensberry was concerned.

"I think," he said he to me this afternoon, when I found him at Carter's Hotel. with his table littered with congratulatory telegrams, which continued to arrive in batches at frequent intervals, "I think I have done my duty, not only to my family and myself, but also to the community. It has cost me £1,200, and now if the law of England don`t step in I must make my own law.

"I have sent a message to this creature Wilde to the effect that if he chooses to leave the country, I, for one, shall not lift a finger to stay him. But he must distinctly understand that if he takes my son with him I shall follow him and shoot him like a dog. But I think he ought not to be allowed to leave the country. I think he ought to he placed where he can ruin no more young men.

FROM A SENSE OF DUTY

"For the part I have taken myself in this matter I can only say that l have acted absolutely and entirely from a sense of duty. Many of my friends said, as many of these telegrams received also say, that I am to be commended for my pluck. I do not see that pluck had anything to do with it. I do not see that I could have acted otherwise than I have done. I have preserved my self-respect.

"I may tell you that the full measure of this man's baseness was not revealed to me until after my own arrest at his instance. Then the evidence which accumulated and the voluntary confessions which were made to us showed us a depth of immorality which in almost incredible."

LONDON'S OWN TOPIC

I need not say that London this afternoon and to-night has been completely possessed of but one topic of conversation the arrest of Oscar Wilde. Not only had he been for a very long time a prominent figure in literary and artistic circles, but during the last few years the rumours and innuendoes which caused the Marquis of Queensberry to insist upon his son's breaking off with the dramatist have been insistently prevalent, and have included the names not only of Wilde and his close intimates, but of many well known men of social as well as artistic distinction.

Things had indeed been fast reaching a point at which no man's name would have been safe, and it is, therefore, felt by every one that Lord Queensberry has rendered a positive service to the community. This, at all events, is the opinion I heard expressed on every hand to-day.

AN ACCOUNT OF THE PROCEEDINGS IN COURT AND SUBSEQUENT DEVELOPMENTS. [BY CABLE TO THE HERALD.]

LONDON, April 5, 1895. The case of Oscar Wilde against the Marquis of Queensberry for libel was brought to a close this morning by a verdict in favor of the defendant. The jury found not only that the defendant was not guilty of libel, but in a subsidiary verdict declared that the Marquis of Queensberry's charges were true and had been made for the public good.

At half-past three o'clock in the afternoon a solicitor, whose name was not given, applied at the Bow Street Police Court and obtained a warrant for immediate execution. The court officers refused to give the name of the person named in the warrant, but it was learned later that the solicitor was Mr. Lewis, of the Treasury, and that the warrant had been granted against Wilde.

Oscar Wilde was subsequently found by detectives, who arrested him. He was taken to a cell in the Bow Street station. Before being taken to his cell, the charge, indicated by his testimony in court, was read to him. He stood with his hands in his pockets, silent, and apparently unconcerned.

Sworn informations have been lodged against several persons mentioned in the trial, some of whose names were not made public, and the civil officers are only awaiting the authority of the Treasury Department to make the arrests.

CLOSE OF THE TRIAL.

The Old Bailey court room was crowded almost to suffocation when Mr. Carson resumed his speech in behalf of the Marquis of Queensberry. It would be his painful duty, he said, to put upon the witness stand men who would speak freely of the nature of their connection with the plaintiff, Wilde. The ages of these men varied from eighteen to twenty-three years. They were of the class of servants, valets, &c., not belonging to Mr. Wilde's station in life, not interested 1 literature or art, yet they addressed this distinguished dramatist by his Christian name, Oscar, he in turn calling them Charlie, Freddie, &c. Mr. Carson said he would produce overwhelming evidence of the abominable immorality of this man Wilde.

Sir Edward Clarke interrupted Mr. Carson and said he had undertaken a great responsibility in defending Wilde against the charges made against him by the Marquis of Queensberry. In regard to the literature which Wilde had published and upon which Mr. Carson had questioned him, he (Sir Edward) had come to the painful conclusion that it could not be expected that the jury would find a verdict of guilty on the actual words used by the defendant--viz., that Wilde was posing as a devotee of unnatural practices. He had consulted with Wilde in the interim of the adjournment of the Court, and, in order to save the Court the painful details connected with the rest of the case, he was prepared to accept a verdict of the jury in regard to Wilde's literature.

The Judge interposed and said if the jury were justified in agreeing upon a verdict on one part of the case they must return a verdict of guilty or not guilty as regards the entire case. The jury then rendered a verdict of not guilty, to which Sir Edward Clarke assented, and supplemented their verdict with the declaration that the charges made by the defendant against Wilde, which constituted the libel complained of, were true and that they had been made in the public interest.

When the verdict was rendered the Marquis of Queensberry left the dock amid loud cheers. The Judge granted an order requiring Wilde to pay the costs of the defence.

A HURRIED DEPARTURE

Mr. Wilde hurriedly left the building during Sir Edward Clarke's statement. With a companion he drove from the Old Bailey to the Holborn Hotel, where he was joined soon afterward by Lord Alfred Douglas and a companion. The four took luncheon together in a private room, Wilde's carriage remaining in front of the hotel.

The Evening News has received the following letter from Oscar Wilde, written upon the note paper of the Holborn Viaduct Hotel: "It would have been impossible for me to have proved my case without putting Lord Alfred Douglas in the witness box against his father. He was extremely anxious to go into the witness box, but I would not let him. Rather than put him in so painful at position I determined to withdraw from the case and bear upon my own shoulders whatever ignominy and shame might result from my prosecution of the Marquis of Queensberry. OSCAR WILDE."

After leaving the Holborn Hotel Wilde went to the Westminster Bank, where he drew out the funds to his account. He was constantly shadowed. He returned to the hotel, accompanied by Lord Alfred Douglas only. Remaining in few minutes, they drove to Ely place and thence to the Cadogan Hotel, where they seem to have vanished, as a Scotland Yard authorities issued descriptions of Wilde and spread them over the city.

In an interview this afternoon the Marquis of Queensberry said: "I have sent this message to Wilde: 'If the country allows you to leave, all the better for the country; but if you take my son with you I will follow you wherever you go and shoot you.'"

WILDE'S PLAYS

This afternoon a reporter visited the Haymarket and St. James's Theatres where Oscar Wilde's plays are running. Mr. Morell, one of the managers of the Haymarket, in reply to the question how the result of the case would affect future business, said he would rather not express an opinion. He would say, however, that Mr. Wilde's name had been taken out of the bills and advertisements of "An Ideal Husband," and from this the public could form its own conclusion.

Mr. George Alexander, manager of the St. James's Theatre, where Oscar Wilde's play "The Importance of Being Earnest," is running, said: "When the scandal was first rumoured business here was slightly affected, but it is now normal. Mr. Wilde's name has been withdrawn from the bills and advertisements of his comedy, which is the most innocent play in the world. It does not contain a line that could hurt the most tender susceptibilities. Whether the trial will cause a change in the business of the future remains to be seen."

Mr. Alexander said also that "The Importance of Being Earnest" would be kept on the stage pending the public verdict. If he should be compelled to withdraw it about one hundred and fifty persons would be thrown out of work, as he had nothing ready to replace it.

It is reported in the Critereon, to which "An Ideal Husband" was to be transferred from the Haymarket, has declined to put the play on its stage.

The reports previously cabled in regard to Mr. Beerbohm Tree's connection with the case are inaccurate. Mr. Carson explained to the Court last evening that Mr. Tree received a copy of a letter written by Wilde to Lord Alfred Douglas, and thereupon sent for Wilde and handed him the copy. Mr. Carson said that Mr. Tree had cabled this information to him, and it tallied perfectly with the account given by Wilde in the witness box. Mr. Carson added that he thought Mr. Tree had acted perfectly right in the matter.

The Judge said there was not the smallest ground for any suggestion adverse to Mr. Tree, who had acted with perfect propriety. Sir Edward Clarke agreed with Mr. Carson and the Judge that Mr. Tree could not properly have done otherwise than he did.

The audiences at the Haymarket and St. James' Theatres, where Mr. Wilde's plays are being given were rather small this evening, but they made no hostile demonstration. At St. James' there were few persons excepting those who had bought their tickets in advance. The gallery was somewhat critical and two or three audience comments confused the players slightly.

PRESS OPINIONS.

The Daily Chronicle will have a long leader to-morrow on Oscar Wilde. It will say: "Either Mr. Carson's brief contained a series of the wickedest slanders or the prosecutor perjured himself unspeakably."

WILDE'S NAME DROPPED AT THE LYCEUM.

Manager Daniel Frohman, of the Lyceum Theatre, Where Oscar Wilde's "An Ideal Husband" is being played, last night dropped Mr. Wilde's name from the programmes and it will not appear on any of the theatre's printing in the future.

A PERSON CALLED WILDE [From the European Edition of the Herald.]

LONDON, March 26, 1895.--The Recorder, at the Central Criminal Court, in charging the Grand Jury yesterday, showed a lamentable ignorance of the distinguished personalities of this city. In referring to Mr. Oscar Wilde's libel case against the Marquis of Queensberry, he said that the accused was charged with publishing a defamatory libel concerning "a person called Wilde."

The Grand Jury never smiled, and the Recorder went on to charge them that the words written on a postcard constituted a libel, and they must bring in a true bill, leaving the accused, as he understood he would do, to bring forward evidence of justification.