Evening Herald - Saturday, December 7, 1895
This report was originally published in English. Machine translations may be available in other languages.
PROMINENT PEOPLE
The petition for the release of Oscar Wilde is not meeting with much support among French men of letters, and the English Press has practically ignored it. The originator of the movement is not a Frenchman, but an American poet named Stuart Merrill. The petition is brief almost to abruptness, and is addressed to the Queen herself. The wording is as follows:—
To her Most Excellent Majesty the Queen. MADAM—The undersigned, acting solely in the name of humanity and Art, and without taking into consideration the question of guilt of the condemned man, would be happy to see a full pardon granted to Mr Oscar Wilde, or else a commutation of the sentence. We are, with the most profound veneration, Madam, the most respectful servants of your Majesty.
Her Majesty will doubtless follow the usual course of sending this document to the Home Secretary, who will communicate with the judge who tried the case and with the governor of the prison where Wilde is serving his sentence. Oscar Wilde's only chance will lie in it being shown that further imprisonment is likely to seriously endanger his life. Some doubt has been expressed as to whether the petition will ever be allowed to reach the Queen's hands, but there need be no fear on that point. All such appeals come directly before the Queen, and the private secretary who should take upon himself to keep one back would not be private secretary long.