The Gazette - Friday, November 29, 1895
This report was originally published in English. Machine translations may be available in other languages.
Headline goes here
Zola has acted wisely in refusing to sign a petition for the release of Oscar Wilde. What ground Zola or any other French writer could find for addressing the British Government on Wilde's case does not appear. It is none of their business, unless we are to accept the theory of the British philistine, that the school of Zola enjoy a monopoly in immorality and crime. On literary grounds the convict has no claim for consideration. He never pretended, himself, that his writings ever aimed at elevating the public. Society owes him nothing. He simply endeavored to amuse it, and was well paid for the work. In any case, men of letters cannot plead for any benefit of clergy. If they break the law, they are as liable to punishment as a chimney sweep, and deserve their punishment the more because they ought to know better.