Belfast News-Letter - Saturday, April 6, 1895
This report was originally published in English. Machine translations may be available in other languages.
OUR LONDON LETTER.
BY OUR PRIVATE WIRE.
BELFAST NEWS-LETTER OFFICE, 169, FLEET STREET, E.C., FRIDAY NIGHT.
[...]The sudden—but not unexpected—termination of Mr. Oscar Wilde's libel prosecution of the Marquis of Queensberry is regarded as desirable in every way. After Mr. Carson's searching cross-examination of the plaintiff and his opening speech for the defence, it was felt that no other course was open to Sir Edward Clarke but to act as he did—throw up the sponge and agree to a verdict of "not guilty" being recorded in favour of the Marquis of Queensberry. The general opinion of all in court who heard the case was hostile to the plaintiff, who, notwithstanding all his smartness and ability, was merely as potter's clay in the hands of Mr. Carson. Since the institution of the criminal proceedings the rush of the public to see Mr. Wilde's plays has fallen off, and a severe blow has been struck at a man of undoubted genius, but who seems to have become the victim of unexampled vanity and over-weening self-confidence. I have always regarded his dramatic art as meretricious in design and unhappy in treatment, but he is not the only sinner in the same direction. It is stated that all the documents in the case have been forwarded to the Public Prosecutor, and as I write I am told he is under arrest at Bow Street Police Court on a charge which involves a maximum imprisonment of two years.