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LONDON, May 25 - An Old Bailey jury, cautiously empanelled, and, as it seemed, carefully coached by the judge of a high court, has declared Oscar Wilde guilty of the abominable offenses charged against him.

Wilde was sentenced to two years in prison at hard labor.

Taylor, whose sentence had been suspended, was also given two years at hard labor.

Public opinion, which is usually on the side of the accused and almost invariably sympathetic in regard to any prisoner standing a second trial for the same crime, had from the first pronounced with nearly absolute unanimity that he was guilty of everything set forth in the indictment, and of much more. The country judged him out of his own mouth, and so did the jury to a large extent, and any other result would have been a disgrace to the intelligent English jurymen and a crying shame upon British justice.

It is impossible, however, to conceal the fact that from the first the common people believed that Wilde would never be convicted. Instinctively they felt that the influence behind this shameless friend of princes and nobles would prove too powerful for any ordinary judicial procedure.

The police had placed the government in possession of the names of men of rank, wealth and fashion who undeniably shared in some of Wilde’s orgies, and had collected evidence amply sufficient to place them in the criminal dock with the hearty approval of all clean men, but the secretary of state took no step against them to vindicate outraged morals.

Lord Alfred Douglas and other men whose evidence would have made the case against Wilde and others even more complete and irrefutable, were allowed to leave the country. They are still abroad, but doubtless they will return to this country in a short time, secure against punishment. Possibly it is as well, for Wilde’s conviction can scarcely fail to prove an effectual determent for years to come, and it will be to the public interest to let this awful scandal become forgotten.

Honest men have, from the first, displayed an unusual, perhaps an unchristian, eagerness for a conviction in this case during the last two or three days. A fierce and universal resentment was shown at what appeared to superficial observers to be almost a collusion between judge and lawyers in order to save Wilde, but Justice Willis’ summing up, which unexpectedly proved to a strictly judicial piece of work, together with the solicitor general's masterly speech and the common sense of the jury of plain citizens finally prevailed.

Wilde was full of confidence to the last, so that the result was a staggering blow to him. He strove to utter something, but his tongue clove to the roof of his mouth, and he sank back in his chair, a mental and physical wreck. The final scene was truly and perhaps fittingly dramatic.

LONDON, May 25 - The trial of Oscar Wilde was resumed in the Old Bailey court this morning, Sir Frank Lockwood continuing his address to the jury for the prosecution. He dilated upon the intimacy of Wilde and Taylor, and said that leniency ought not to be shown to one and not to the other because of the position and intellect of the one.

Sir Edward Clarke protested against the counsel's confusing Taylor’s case with Wilde’s.

Sir F. Lockwood expressed hope that the jury would not regard Wilde’s letters as "prose poems," but would appreciate them at their proper level, which was rather lower than that of beasts.

Sir Edward Clarke angrily objected to the language used by the prosecuting counsel, and a heated argument between the two ensued.

After a protracted wrangle the judge interfered, and advised Lockwood to confine himself to discussion of the evidence, and not start out on any rhetorical denunciation of the prisoner.

Mr Lockwood finished his address by saying that Wilde’s own admissions pointed conclusively to his guilt.

The judge, in summing up, said that Wilde had confessed that his conduct in regard to Lord Alfred Douglas has been such that he (the judge) could not ask the jury in the previous trial to say that there was no ground for charging him with having posed as a criminal.

The judge, in the course of his remarks to the jury, dealt with each of the charges contained in the indictment, his opinion being plainly and strongly against the prisoner. In regard to Wilde’s letters to Lord Alfred Douglas, he said they might be "prose poems," but that they were none the less poison to a young man's mind, and the writer was clearly not a desirable companion for the young.

The judge finished his charge at 3 o'clock and the jury retired.

Before the jury retired the foreman asked the court if a warrant had been issued for the arrest of Lord Alfred Douglas.

The judge said that no warrant had been issued, whereupon the foreman said: "But if we must consider these letters as evidence of guilt they surely show that Lord Alfred Douglas’ guilt is equal to that of Wilde."

Wilde was sentenced to two years in prison at hard labour.

Taylor, whose sentence had been suspended, was also given two years at hard labor.