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LONDON, April 30. - At the opening of to-day's sitting of the trial of Oscar Wilde and Alfred Taylor, Counselor C. F. Gill intimated that the prosecution would withdraw the charge of conspiracy.

Sir Edward Clarke, on behalf of Wilde, said that if those charges had been withdrawn at the outset he would have made an application to have the prisoners tried separately. The Court said that after the evidence which had been given the counts charging conspiracy were needless.

Sir Edward Clarke - Then I ask for a verdict of not guilty on those counts.

The Court refused to consent to such a verdict, saying that he would simply accede to the application of Mr. Gill to have the charges of conspiracy withdrawn. Sir Edward Clarke then began his opening address to the jury for the defense. He intended, he said, to put Wilde in the witness-box, where he would make an unqualified denial of the charges against him. He cited Wilde's literary works and argued that in no instance had his client written anything that would lead any one to suppose him guilty as alleged. Sir Edward explained the ending of the Queensberry trial by saying that Wilde's counsel were entirely responsible for its abrupt termination. It became clear, he said, that the jury would not convict Lord Queensberry, and he (Clarke) therefore advised Wilde to accept a verdict against himself.

Wilde was called to the witness stand and swore that the evidence he had given at the Queensberry trial was absolutely true. He repeated his testimony upon cross-examination without contradiction. Wilde, continuing his testimony, said he had had nothing to do with publishing Lord Alfred Douglas’ poems, nor had he anything to do with the publication of his articles in Chameleon (magazine). Asked to define Lord Alfred's expression, "I am the love that dare not speak its name," Wilde said he thought it meant spiritual love, as pure as it was perfect. Wilde proceeded to enlarge upon the subject, and became so eloquent as to evoke a burst of applause, causing the Judge to threaten to clear the court unless silence was observed.

Alfred Taylor, co-defendant with Wilde, was called to the stand and told of his career. He was educated at Marlborough College, he said, and became an officer in the militia, but abandoned military life upon coming into an inheritance of £4,000 pounds. He absolutely denied the charges against him.