The great cavern that opened on the abyss was as black

These 13,195 conditional sentences included 8,485 for crimes and offences under the penal code; 2,286 for breaches of police regulations; 447 for breaches of communal and provincial regulations; and 1,977 for contraventions of special laws.

The crimes and offences for which these sentences have been most frequently pronounced are as follows:--

Correctional. Police. Malicious Wounding ... ... ... ... ... 3,339 ... 491 Thefts, &c ... ... ... ... ... ... 1,803 ... 206 Resistance to and attacks on Authorities 961 ... 67 Destruction of Inclosures and Property 211 ... 56 Swindling and Breach of Trust ... ... 125 ... 5 Slander and Defamation ... ... ... ... 113 ... 79 Immorality ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 112 ... 10

Offences below 100 were: Abusive language, 99; Indecent assaults, 59; Threats, 58; Forgery, 49; Adultery, 48; Adulteration of food, 44; Unlawful wounding, 45; Unlawful possession, 31; Unlawful carrying and sale of arms, 30; Bankruptcy, 26; Accidental homicide, 20.

In the year 1890, out of 41,330 sentences in the Correctional Tribunals, whereof 36,660 were not over six months' imprisonment, 7,932 were conditional, and there were 223 relapses. Out of 121,461 in the Police Courts, 6,377 were conditional, and there were 49 relapses.

The proportion for various offences was approximately the same as in the previous year.

These figures, it is true, do not tell us much about the effects of conditional sentences in Belgium, as we might expect from the brevity of the experiment; so that the question still remains in the theoretical phase.

The statistics of the Massachusetts probation system are not much more instructive.