THE OSCAR WILDE SCANDAL.

Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume XXX, Issue 9999, 25 May 1895, Page 5

THE OSCAR WILDE SCANDAL.

Of course the " fashionable sensation" .oE the week (writes the London correspondent of the Olago Daily Times), has been tho trial of Lord Qaeenaberry on the charge of criminally libelling Mr Osoar Wilde. "A. person named Oscar Wilde " was how thejodge In ohareing the grand jury, specified this celebrated (or notorious) porsonage, It will bo remembered that Lord Queensberry left at Mr Wilde's clnb a card on which were written wordH which virtually accused Mr Wilde of! a vile crime, and that on tho fact coming to his knowledge the latter caused the Marquis to be arrested forthwith for criminal libel. He was committed for trial, and tho grand jury found ft true bill against him. The trial Is now proceeding. Yesterday the Da : ly Chronicle reported the proceedings to the extent of five solid columns, the Telegraph gave four and a- half, the Standard three and a-half, the Times and Morning Post eaoh two and a-half, the Daily News nnd Daily Graphic eaoh two columns. Permit me here, figuratively, to nplift my hands in utter amazement that respectable journals should have allowed their columns to be defiled by flood* of filthy allusions and revolting innuendo whioh flows through the whole evidence in this disgusting case. To mo it seems most deplorable and discreditable that such loathsome garbage should be reported in respectable journals which are presumably fit for family perusal. One need not be a purist or a prude to be genuinely and intensely shocked that snoh an experience should have been possible. One evening paper, the St. James's Gazette, to its greal and abiding credit be it said, resisted the temptation to wallow In this filth, and refnsed to report the case at all beyond a mere statement of the plain facts much as they are set forth above. The St. James's expresses its conviction that most oleaulj -minded pooplo will bo glad " that there ia at least one London newspaper to-day wbioh can be read without a shudder by portions of ordinary deoent feeling, which neod not be excluded from a household whore there are women and young girls, which oan be permitted to lie on the drawing-room table without offence, and whioh can be taken into the family circle without apprehension. 1 ' An earnest appeal ia made by the came paper for the hearing of such cases in camera. It admits the temptation under which newspapers lie to publish sensational matter, and argues that they ' should be protected from themselves and their readers from ttietn by the court having the power to forbid the publication of indecent evidence. It is terrible to think of inquisitive boys and girls reading this morning'a papeid. What makes the whole thing even more offensive than It is per se is the unblushing wny in whioh Mr Wilde utilises the case as an advertisement of himself and bis wares. I wonder the judge tolerated the flippancies and impertinencies and irrelevanoies with which he "showed off" to an admiring audience. He had evidently been at work for weeks "mugging up" smart sayings »nd quips and paradoxes with wbioh to astonish his hearers. Some of them are worth quoting, if only to show how far sheer impudence may be carried by a witness in a court of law. Mr Wilde, by the way, confessed to 39 years of age, but in cross-examination admitted to being born in 1854. Asked if a certain book was immoral, he replied — "ifc is worse, it is badly written." Mr Wilde holds that " wlckednesß is a myth invented by good people," that " religions die when they are proved to be true," that " if one tells the truth one is sure, sooner or later, to be found out." This last ia characterised aa "a pleasing paradox." " Anything," said Mr Wilde, "is good that stimulates thought. . . . There is no such thing ai morality and immorality in thought. . . . Pleasure ia the only thing that one should live for, nothing ages like happiness. . . . (another pleasing paradox !) and to realise oneself through pleasure is finer than to do so through pain. ... A truth ceases to bo a truth when more than one person believes it" — "that," said Oscar "would be my metaphysical definition of truth, something so personal that the same truth could never fao appreciated by two minds." " The condition of perfection is idleness " that, Mr Wilde thinks, Is at least " half true." He sayß further " there is something tragic about the enormous number of young men in England who are starting life with perfect profiles aud end by adopting Borne useful profession." This Mr Wilde describes as "an amusing paradox." All these sapient aphorisms are from Mr Wilde's " Phrases and Philosophy for the Uso of the Young." Thoy were submitted to him In cross-examinatiou for an expression of his matured opinion on their meritß. Mr Wilde further stated that tho only critic of tho century whose opinion ho set high was Mr Waltor Pater ; " That no work of art over puts forward ' views ' of any kind. ' Views ' belong to people who are not artists." He held that tho tone of his own writings could only be doomed immoral by " brntos and the illiterate — the views of the Philistines on art," said Oaoar, " are incalculably stupid." He was at mid tho majority of people were not oultivated enough to live up to the pose he bud given them ; but still, he admitted, he had " nevor discouraged their buying his books." He begged that ho might not bo cross-examined about "the ignorance of other poople," and deolared ho had "a great psssion to oivilise the community." He described one of his own letters to a friend as "a beautiful letter." " Was it an ordinary letter?" aßked counsel. " Oertainlv not ; 1 should think not ! " replied Mr Wilde, indignantly, amid roars of laughter. "It was h beautiful letter — unique, I should think."' "Have you written others of this class ? " wbb next asked. " There in no class in that letter," said Mr Wilde, proudly. " Have you written others like It P " " I don't repeat myself in style," was the lofty reply. Another letter was read. "Don't yon think that is «n extraordinary lotterr"' asked counsel. "I think everything I write is extraordinary" answered the modest Osoar. " I don't

I 1 * poso a 9 being ordinary ! Groat c Hoavena ! ! " Several people had at- \ tempted to blackmail him, with tbe i result that he gave them money very c freely and apparently constituted them i :>ia personal friends henceforth, calling i I them by their Christian names, regaling i them at dinner, champagne lnnchos, ] fie, and otherwise entertaining them, i "Everybody, with few exceptions, calls t res by my Christian name," said the t i peotic Oscar, " and I like calling people ; by their Christian names. 1 ' He did i I th'.nk it " monstrous " that a man with i whom he was on such intimate terms 1 should come to blackmail him, so ho i gave him 10s "to show my contempt i for him — to show I didn't flare twopence 1 for him ! " " Did you call him Alf 1 " i was asked. "No," replied Mr Wilde, i solemnly, "I never use abbreviations, i I oalled him Alfred." Bein,; asked • whether another passage in one of his writings was proper, Mr Wilde said, i " I think it is the moat perfeot deacrip- i tlon possible of what an artist would i feel." Asked whether he ever bad the feeling of admiration for another which one of his heroes expresses, Oscar loftily \ responded, "I have never given admiration to any person except myself ! " He regarded it as "an intellectual treat " to his guests to be allowed to visit him. He did not know their ages because he "did not keep a oensua. 1 ' He did not visit them, "It would not interest mo to go to see Parker ; it would interest Parker to call and see me," said Mr Wilde. "I do not like the sensible and I do not Jike tbe old," he remarked, " and I do not oare twopence for Boclal position. I recognise no social distinction at all of any kind. I like the society of people much younger than myself. The society of young people is so wonderful. I would talk to a street arab with more pleasure than I would be oross-examined by yon in court." When asked if one visitor disoussed literature with him " I would not allow it," said O3oar sternly. These touches are amusing and characteristic of the man. lie is emphatically a poseur and phraseur. He lives for notoriety. Somo of the correspondence between Lord Queensberry and his son whom be desired to aave from Oscar Wilde's loflaenoe is, to say the least, curious. The Marquis wrote commanding htm to cease his friendship with Wilde, .and remonstrating with him for his idleness and •' loafing." To this the dutiful son replied in the following telegram : — " What a funny little man you arel " His father not unnaturally rejoined : "You impertinent young jackanapes, if you give me any of your impertinenoa I shall give yon the thrashing you deserve. My only excuse for you ia that yon must be crazy." To this the affectionate son responded with the following, written on a postcard :— " As you have returned my letters .unopened, lam obliged to write on a postcard. I writo to inform you that I treat your absurd threatß with absolute indifference. Ever sinoe your exhibition at O. W.s house I have made a point of appearing with him at many publio restaurants,and I shall continue to go to any of those places whenever I choose, and with, whom I choose. lam of age, and my own master. *You have disowned vie at least a dozon times, and have very meanly deprived me of money. You have no rigkt over me, either legal or moral. If O. W. was to proseoute you for libel in the orimirial courts, you woald get seven years' peoal servitudn for the outrageous libels. Much as I detest you I am anxious to avoid this for the sake of the family, bnt if you try to aseault me I shall defend myself with a loaded revolver, which I always carry, and I'll shoot you, or if he Bhoot you, we will be completely justified, as we should byacting in Belf-defenco against aviolent and dangerous rough; and I think if you were dead not many people would miss yon." Thiß morning theunexpeotedhappened, and the revolting case suddenly collapsed. When the judge took his seat he was seen to receive, open, and read a letter. The silence was breathless. Expectation was on tiptoe. But nothing happened immediately. Mr Carson proceeded with his speech for tho defence. But suddenly he was interrupted. Sir Edward Olarke plucked him by the gown and whispered to him. Mr Carson sat down. Sir Edward Olarke arose and intimated the withdrawl of the prosecution againat Lord Queensberry, or, if that were not agreed to, consent to a verdict of not qnllty on the ground of justification and publication for the publio good. A verdiot was retnrned accordingly. Meanwhile Mr Wilde's whereabouts is not definitely known. He was last heard of at the Holborn Viaduct Hotel, where | he wrote a letter implying that he withdrew rather than place Lord_ Alfred Douglas In tbe box against his father. But tho Bborthand notea of the oase and ail the doouments have been placed in the hands of the Publio Prosecutor. Lot us hope we have heard the last of a case which is one of the most shocking Booiety scandals of modern timea.