He pointed out the unfairness of the charges of conspiracy which had tardily been withdrawn.

He went on to say that the most remarkable characteristic of the case was the fact that it had been the occasion for conduct on the part of certain sections of the press which was disgraceful, and which imperilled the administration of justice, and was in the highest degree injurious to the client for whom he was pleading.

Nothing, he concluded, could be more unfair than the way Mr.Wilde had been criticised in the press for weeks and weeks.

But no judge interfered on his behalf.
Sir Edward Clarke evidently thought that to prove unfairness would not even influence the minds of the London jury.

He was content to repudiate the attempt to judge Mr.Wilde by his books or by an article which he had condemned, or by poems which he had not written.