======+===============================================+=======+========== | Persons Received into the Jails and Prisons of| | Average +-----------------------------------------------+ |Population Years.| |Totals.| of the | West Flanders. | | Prisons. ------+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+-------+---------- | Bruges. | Courtrai. | Ypres. | Furnes. | | +-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+ | 1839 | 1,578 | 592 | 572 | 169 | 2,911 | 233 1840 | 1,502 | 643 | 821 | 196 | 3,162 | 238 1841 | 1,377 | 795 | 599 | 175 | 2,946 | 311 1842 | 1,489 | 863 | 836 | 271 | 3,459 | 346 1843 | 1,478 | 922 | 790 | 298 | 3,488 | 374 1844 | 1,502 | 941 | 696 | 270 | 3,409 | 379 1845 | 1,876 | 935 | 600 | 254 | 3,665 | 376 1846 | 2,378 | 1,108 | 935 | 601 | 5,022 | 574 1847 | 3,751 | 2,012 | 1,238 | 909 | 7,910 | 820 1848 | 2,859 | 1,960 | 1,070 | 690 | 6,579 | 694 +-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+ | | East Flanders. | | +-----------+------------+----------+---------- + | | Ghent. | Audenarde. | Termonde. | | +-----------+------------+----------------------+ | 1839 | 2,094 | 842 | 754 | 3,690 | 289 1840 | 2,311 | 919 | 852 | 4,082 | 357 1841 | 2,163 | 771 | 852 | 3,786 | 351 1842 | 2,171 | 844 | 905 | 3,920 | 333 1843 | 3,610 | 991 | 870 | 5,471 | 408 1844 | 2,548 | 760 | 718 | 4,026 | 345 1845 | 2,579 | 1,061 | 1,461 | 5,101 | 360 1846 | 5,499 | 2,732 | 2,092 | 0,323 | 619 1847 | 7,491 | 6,943 | 3,240 | 7,674 | 972 1848 | 6,309 | 4,462 | 2,829 | 3,600 | 698 ======+===========+============+======================+=======+========== “The increase in the numbers received into the jails and prisons of the two provinces took place especially in the years 1845, 1846, and 1847; in 1848 we note quite a pronounced decrease, which continues in 1849. Of all the signs to prove the existence and progress of pauperism, this is perhaps the most certain. During the disastrous years that had just elapsed, the prisons became in a sense annexes of the hospitals and almshouses; a great number of offenses were committed with the sole object of finding asylum....