Although, owing to the great frugality and industry of the people, an insolvent debtor is rather a rare character, consequently held in more odium in Holland than in most other countries, yet the laws of arrest are milder there than in England. If the debtor be a citizen or registered burgher, he is not subject to have his person seized at the suit of the creditor, until three regular summonses have been duly served upon him, to appear in the proper court, and resist the claim preferred against him, which process is completed in about a month; after which, if he does not obey it, his person is subject to arrest, but only when he has quitted his house; for in Holland a man’s dwelling is held even more sacred than in England, and no civil process whatever is capable of being served upon him, if he stands but on the threshold of his home. In this sanctuary he may set at defiance every claimant; if, however, he has the hardihood to appear abroad, without having satisfied or compromised his debt, he is then pretty sure, from the vigilance and activity of the proper officers, to be seized; in which case he is sent to a house of restriction, not a prison for felons, where he is maintained with liberal humanity, the expenses of which, as well as of all the proceedings, must be defrayed by the creditor. Under these qualifications, every debtor is liable to arrest, let the amount of the debt be ever so small. The bankrupt laws of Holland differ from ours in this respect, that all the creditors must sign the debtor’s certificate, or agreement of liberation; but if any refuse, the ground of their refusal is submitted to arbitrators, who decide whether the bankrupt shall, notwithstanding, have his certificate or not.