was known not to be rich and yet he was
deprived of the power to get money together and to collect evidence
just when the power which freedom confers was most needed by him.

The magistrate was as prejudiced as the public; he had no more idea of
standing for justice and fair play than Pilate; probably, indeed, he
never gave himself the trouble to think of fairness in the matter. A
large salary is paid to magistrates in London, L1,500 a year, but it
is rare indeed that any of them rises above the vulgarest prejudice.
Sir John Bridge not only refused bail but he was careful to give his
reasons for refusing it: he had not the slightest scruple about
prejudicing the case even before he had heard a word of the defence.
After hearing the evidence for the prosecution he said:

"The responsibility of accepting or refusing bail rests upon me. The
considerations that weigh with me are the gravity of the offences and
the strength of the evidence. I must absolutely refuse bail and send
the prisoners for trial."

Now these reasons, which he proffered voluntarily, and especially the
use of the word "absolutely," showed not only prejudice on the part of
Sir John Bridge, but the desire to injure the unfortunate prisoner in
the public mind and so continue the evil work of the journalists.

The effect of this prejudice and rancour on the part of the whole
community had various consequences.

The mere news that Oscar Wilde had been arrested and taken to Holloway
startled London and gave the signal for a strange exodus. Every train
to Dover was crowded; every steamer to Calais thronged with members of
the aristocratic and leisured classes, who seemed to prefer Paris, or
even Nice out of the season, to a city like London, where the police
might act with such unexpected vigour. The truth was that the cultured
aesthetes whom I have already described had been thunderstruck by the
facts which the Queensberry trial had laid bare. For the first time
they learned that such houses as Taylor's were under police
supervision, and that creatures like Wood and Parker were classified
and watched. They had imagined that in "the home of liberty" such
practices passed unnoticed. It came as a shock to their preconceived
ideas that the police in London knew a great many things which they
were not supposed to concern themselves with, and this unwelcome glare
of light drove the vicious forth in wild haste.

Never was Paris so crowded with members of the E