Daily Star and Herald - Tuesday, May 28, 1895
This report was originally published in English. Machine translations may be available in other languages.
OSCAR WILDE
The trial of this noted English writer and scholar of whom mention has of late been made in our cable despatches is likely to be one of the most exciting trials that has ever taken place in the English courts. Oscar Wilde has brought suit against the Marquis of Queensbury for an alleged libel, which was precipitated on account of a book entitled "The Green Carnation," Oscar Wilde's latest production; although so as not to make known its author, he adopted the scheme of issuing it anonymously. In this story Oscar poked fun at the Marquis of Queensbury, the father of Lord Alfred Douglas. This ridicule provoked the Marquis to reply in the way of writing certain facts on a card in a London club about Oscar, which stung the latter to his heart, for which he brought an action of libel against the Marquis. But when the case was thoroughly examined, the tables turned so completely that Wilde's arrest was immediately ordered on a charge of "inciting other persons to commit crime, with committing offences against decency, and with offences under the Criminal Law Amendment Act of 1885."
Since Wilde's arrest he has appeared before the court several times to disprove the charge, but having failed to do so he has been committed to stand his trial.
On one occasion both Wilde and the prosecuting witnesses had to be protected from the fury of the mob. Revelations made in the prelimary trials show that several persons - some of high standing in society - will be implicated. At present, one Alfred Taylor is charged along with Wilde.
That Oscar Wilde is a man of great ability goes without saying. In the course of his testimony of defence on May 1, he was asked to define the expression: "I am the love that does not speak its name," contained in the poems of Lord Alfred Douglas, which he was charged with publishing, and which he denied.
Wilde said that he thought the expression 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. The judge finally summed up the evidences in the case, and in concluding his charge the jury, said, the case was one of great importance to the community. If the jury believed that the charges against the prisoners were true they should say so fearlessly.
The jury retired at 11:30. After deliberating three and a half hours, the jury returned to the court room and announced that they had failed to agree upon a verdict. They were thereupon discharged and prisoners were remitted for a new trial.
The jury retired at 11:30. After deliberating three and a half hours, the jury returned to the court room and announced that they had failed to agree upon a verdict. They were thereupon discharged and the prisoners were remitted for a new trial.
After deliberating three and a half hours, the jury returned to the court room and announced that they had failed to agree upon a verdict. They were thereupon discharged, and the prisoners were remitted for a new trial.
The jury retired at 1:30 o’clock p. m. After deliberating three and a half hours, the jury returned to the courtroom and announced that they had failed to agree upon a verdict. They were thereupon discharged.
At 1.30 p.m. the case was given to the jury and the jury retired. After deliberating 3 1-2 hours the jury returned to the court room and announced that they had failed to agree upon a verdict. They were thereupon discharged, and the prisoners were remanded for a new trial.
The disagreement of the jury in the case has caused much surprise in London. Several newspapers incline to the opinion that Wilde's speech which elicited applauce in the court room, may have saved him from a verdict of not guilty. They quote as the most eloquent part of this effective plea the first ten or twelve sentences with which Wilde answered Mr. Gill's question as to the meaning of his affection for Lord Douglas. The sentences were:--
The disagreement of the jury in the Wilde case has caused much surprise in London. Several newspapers inclined to the opinion that Wilde’s speech, which elicited applause in the court room, may have saved him from a verdict of guilty. They quote as the most eloquent part of his effective plea the first ten or twelve sentences with which Wilde answered Mr. Gill’s question as to the meaning of his affection for Lord Douglas. These sentences were:
Several newspapers incline to the opinion that Wilde's speech, which elicited applause in the court room yesterday, may have saved him from a verdict of guilty. They quote as the most eloquent part of this effective plea the first 10 sentences with which Wilde answered Mr. Gill's question as to the meaning of his affection for Lord Douglas. These sentences were:-
"It is such a great affection of the elder for the younger man as existed between David and Jonathon: such as Plato made the very basis of his philosophy; such as we find in the sonnets of Michael Angelo and Shakespeare. It is that deep spiritual affection which is as pure as it is perfect, and dictates great works of art like those of Shakespeare and Anelo and these two letters of mine, such as they are.
"It is such a great affection of the elder for the younger man as existed between David and Jonathan; such as Plato made the very basis of his philosophy; such as we find in the sonnets of Michael Angelo and Shakespeare. It is that deep spiritual affection which is as pure as it is perfect, and dictates great works of art like those of Shakespeare and Angelo and these two letters of mine, such as they are.
"This love is misunderstood in the present century--so misunderstood that I am placed where I now am. It is beautiful as it is fine; it is the nobliest form of affection. It is intellectual and has existed repeatedly between an elder and a younger man when the elder has the intellect and the younger has all the joy and hope and glamour of life. That it should be so the world does not understand. The world mocks at it and sometimes puts one in the pillory for it."
"This love is misunderstood in the present century--so misunderstood that on account of it I am placed where I now am. It is beautiful; it is fine; it is the noblest form of affection. It is intellectual and has existed repeatedly between an elder and a younger man when the elder has the intellect and the younger has all the joy and hope and glamour of life. That it should be so the world does not understand. The world mocks at it and sometimes puts one in the pillory for it."
"This love is misunderstood in the present century-so misunderstood that on account of it I am placed where I am. It is beautiful: it is fine; it is the noblest form of affection. It is intellectual, and has existed repeatedly between an elder and a younger man when the elder has the intellect and the younger has all the joy and hope and glamor of life. That it should be so the world does not understand. The world mocks at it, and sometimes puts one on the pillory for it."
"It is intellectual, and has existed repeatedly between an elder and a younger man when the elder has the intellect and the younger has all the joy and hope and glamor of life. That it should be so the world does not understand. The world mocks at it, and sometimes puts one on the pillory for it."
Wilde was finally released on bail May 7th. He furnished a personal bond for $12, 500 and two sureties in $620. His sureties were Lord Douglas of Hawick, oldest surviving son of the Marquis of Queensberry, whose name is associated with Wilde in the testimony taken, and Rev. Stewart Headlam. The appearance of Mr. Headlam in the case caused some surprise. He is a Cambridge man, with a fine residence at Hyde Park Gate, and has heretofore been more or less conspicuous in social reform. When asked why he went on Oscar Wilde's bond he said:
"I became surety for Oscar Wilde on public grounds. I felt that the public mind was prejudiced before the case began, and I am anxious to give him any help possible in order to enable him to stand another trial in good health and spirits."
"I became surety for Oscar Wilde on public grounds. I felt that the public mind was prejudiced before the case began, and I am anxious to give him any help possible in order to enable him to stand trial in good health and spirits."
"I became surety for Oscar Wilde on public grounds. I felt that the public mind was prejudiced before the case began, and I am anxious to give him any help possible in order to enable him to stand trial in good health and spirits."
"I became surety for Oscar Wilde on public grounds. I felt that the public mind was prejudiced before the case began, and I am anxious to give him any help possible in order to enable him to stand trial in good health and spirits."
"I became surety for Oscar Wilde on public grounds. I felt that the public mind was prejudiced before the case had begun, and I am anxious to give him any help possible in order to enable him to stand trial in good health and spirits."
"I became surety for Oscar Wilde on public grounds. I felt that the public mind was prejudiced before the case began, and I am anxious to give him any help possible to enable him to stand trial in good health and spirits."
The latter said: "I became a surety for Oscar Wilde on public grounds. I felt that the public mind was prejudiced before the case began, and I am anxious to give him any help possible to enable him to stand trial in good health and spirits."
He was interviewed shortly after it became known that he had become one of Wilde's bondsmen, and said: "I became surety for Oscar Wilde on public grounds. I felt that the public mind was prejudiced before the case began and I am anxious to give him any help possible in order to enable him to stand trial in good health and spirits."
It is not generally believed that Wilde will be called for a trial a second time. No obstacle will be placed in the way of his leaving England if he wishes to. He left the courtroom in the company of Lord Douglas, and the impression was that they were going to spend a few days at the seaside.
Wilde is suffering from nervous protration and declined to be interviewed. He had a long consultation on the night of the 7th with his bondsmen and his solicitors, who promised to keep the police informed about their client.
The following extract is taken from "Dorian Grey", another of Wilde's books, on which much importance is now attached:--
"I believe that if one man were to live his life out fully and completely, were to give form to every reeling, expression to every thought, reality, to dream--I believe that the world would gain such a fresh impulse of joy that we would forget all the maladies of medievalism and return to the Hellenic ideal. But the bravest man among us is afraid of himself. The mutilation of the savage has its tragic survival in the selfdenial that mars our lives. Every impulse we strive to strangle broods in the minds and poisons i. The body sins once and has done with its sin, for action is the [...] of purification. Nothing remains then but the recollection of a pleasure or the luxury of a regret. The only way to get rid of a temptation is to yeild to it. Resist it and your soul gr[...] sick [...] longing for the things that has [...] to itself, with desire [...] monstrous laws have made monstrous and unlawful. It has been said that the great events of the world take place in the brain. It is in the brain and the brain only that the great sins of the world take place also. You, Mr. Gray, with your rose red youth and rose white boyhood, you have had passions that have made you afraid, thoughts that have filled you with terror, daydreams and sleeping dreams whose mere memory might stain your cheek with shame."
We take the following from "Men and Women of the Time," relative to Wilde:--
Oscar Wilde, was born in Dublin in 1856, and is the son of Sir William R. Wills Wilde, and M. D., Surgeon-Oculist to Her Majesty, Antiquarian, Statistician, and man of letters; and of Jane Francesca, Lady Wilde, known as a poetess, and woman of letters. Oscar Wilde was educated at Portora Royal School, Enniskillen; proceeded to Trinity College, Dublin, of which he became Scholar; and having obtained the Berkely Gold Medal for Greek, went to Oxford in 1874. He obtained first Demyship at Magdalen College; a First Class in Moderations in 1876; and a First Class in Greats; and a Newdigate Prize for an English poem on "Ravenna," 1878. He came to London in 1879, and was the originator of the Aesthetic movement. He published a volume of Poems in 1880; proceeded to America in 1881, where he delivered over 200 lectures on art in England and in Paris. His drama of "Vera" was produced in New York in 1882; "The Happy Prince and the other Fairy Tales" was published in 1888. He is also the author of "Dorian Gray," a novel of modern lifel (in which work it is now believed that he portrayed his own life.) "The Portrait of Mr. W. H.;" a new theory about "Shakespeare's Sonnets;" "Intentions," a volume of essays and dialogues on art, containing the developed principles of his aestheticism; "The House of Pomegranates," a collection of "coloured poems in prose, as Mr. Wilde has himself described it; "The Sphinx," a long rhymed poem; and "Lord Arthur Savile's Crime," a volume of short stories. His blank-verse tragedy, "The Dunchess of Padua," was produced in New York in 1891; and in 1892 he made his debut in London as a dramatist, with a brilliant comedy entitled "Lady Windermere's Fan." This was followed, in 1893, by a comedy entitled "A Woman of No Importance," which also achieved success. His one-act tragedy, written in French, entitled "Salomé," was prohibited by the Lord Chamberlain in London on account of the Biblical character of the subject. On account of his prohibition Mr. Wilde announced his intention of becoming a French citizen. The play has since been produced in Paris by Madame Sarah Bernhardt. His last dramatic successes are "An Ideal Husband" and "The Importance of Being Earnest." Mr. Wilde has travelled a great deal to Greece and Italy.