self--its
relation to my own life and that of my friends--I reckoned I had
solved; but I now had to ask myself how far I was justified in
not only breaking the law, but in being the cause of a like
breach in others, and others younger than myself. I have never
allowed the _dictum_ of the law to interfere with what I deemed
to be a moral development in any youth for whom I am responsible.
I cannot say that the trial made me alter my course of life, of
the rightness of which I was too convincingly persuaded, but it
made me much more careful, and it probably sharpened my sense of
responsibility for the young. Reviewing the results of the trial
as a whole, it doubtless did incalculable harm, and it
intensified our national vice of hypocrisy. But I think it also
may have done some good in that it made those who, like myself,
have thought and experienced deeply in the matter--and these must
be no small few--ready to strike a blow, when the time comes,
for what we deem to be right, honorable, and clean."

From America a lady writes with reference to the moral position
of inverts, though without allusion to the Wilde trial:--

"Inverts should have the courage and independence to be
themselves, and to demand an investigation. If one strives to
live honorably, and considers the greatest good to the greatest
number, it is not a crime nor a disgrace to be an invert. I do
not need the law to defend me, neither do I desire to have any
concessions made for me, nor do I ask my friends to sacrifice
their ideals for me. I too have ideals which I shall always hold.
All that I desire--and I claim it as my right--is the freedom to
exercise this divine gift of loving, which is not a menace to
society nor a disgrace to me. Let it once be understood that the
average invert is not a moral degenerate nor a mental degenerate,
but simply a man or a woman who is less highly specialized, less
completely differentiated, than other men and women, and I
believe the prejudice against them will disappear, and if they
live uprightly they will surely win the esteem and consideration
of all thoughtful people. I know what it means to an invert--who
feels himself set apart from the rest of mankind--to find one
human heart who trusts him and understands him, and I know how
almost impossible this is, and will be,