The third trial, a second attempt to prosecute Wilde (after the hung jury of the second trial), opened on May 22. Again, friends urged Wilde to flee the country, but he wrote to Lord Alfred that he "did not want to be called a coward or a deserter." The prosecution benefited from the previous trial and won. Wilde was found guilty of indecent behavior with men, a lesser charge but one for which he received the maximum penalty under the Criminal Law Amendment Act: two years at hard labor.
Those familiar with the history of the period might note parallels between the Dreyfus Affair (1894–1906) in France and Oscar Wilde's trials in England. Alfred Dreyfus was the son of a Jewish textile manufacturer; he joined the military and rose to the rank of captain. He was accused of selling military secrets to the Germans and convicted of treason in December 1894. The trial was highly irregular, and the conviction was based on insufficient evidence. Much of the impetus for the trial came from political conservatives, anti-Semitic groups, and publications such as the newspaper La Libre Parole. They encouraged the public to believe that French Jews were disloyal. The novelist Émile Zola led other intellectuals and politicians in a campaign on Dreyfus' behalf. After two more trials and considerate turmoil, Dreyfus eventually was pardoned and the judgment set aside. Dreyfus had been persecuted for religious and political reasons; Oscar Wilde was persecuted for being a homosexual.
