The Standard - Saturday, November 23, 1895
This report was originally published in English. Machine translations may be available in other languages.
The Gaulois states that there is a question in the French literary world of drawing up a petition in favour of Oscar Wilde. The person who has taken the initiative in the matter is the young American poet, Stuart Merritt, who has submitted the idea to M. Leon Deschamps, the editor of the Plume. The Gaulois thinks it may be possible to obtain for the petition the signatures of several French literary celebrities, and among them those of MM. Emile Zola, Alphonse Daudet, Edouard de Goucourt, J.M. de Heredia, Francois Coppée, Octave Mirbeau, and others. A hope is expressed that if the leading British and French writers sign the petition Wilde will be liberated before the expiration of his term of imprisonment.