The Sun.
London, England, 1829-01-01 00:00:00

HOLLAND.

The study of jurisprudence excites consider-
able interfst ; tind the proceedings of
the English Parliament. for the reform of our
Code (if the conhised higgledy-piggledy of
Statutes, deei6ions, dicta, and contradida, hare

any right to such a title) are looked at with
earnest attention. Mr. Brougham's name is
very popular here (where is it not so ?), and his

" sayings and doings" were constantly the sub

ject of discussion in many of the circles I visited.
But of his last long effort I heard only one opi-
nion—that it was the wearing of a great mind
upon trifles---a forgetfulness of the sine qua non
—a lashing of petty offenders—an impunity for
the great offence—a palliative for some of the
symptoms—a turning away from the foul dis-
ease—a petty warfare with the skirmishes of
the enemy, but a refusal to attack the fortress,
and to combat in the open field. Let Mr.
Brougham consider that he has a task far higher
and noNler than that of conciliating " the gen-
tlemen of the long robe ;" that the influence of
his exertions may, if he pleases, spread over the
world ; but then there must be rte dallying with
abuses, no compromises with wrong. He must
forget the lawyer in the legislator, and both in
the philanthropist. He must talk no nonsense
•

about " Corinthian columns,"—have no doubts
as to his single-minded honesty. He -must
avoid all vituperatiops, which are mere ebulli-
tions of personal spleen ; and, using his splendid

powers fo r the service of mankind, he will have
millions of voices blending his name with bene-
dictions, and rescuing it from the ruins of perish-
able things.
A Code iss in preparation here ; but, of the

thousand opinions I have heard on the subject,
there is not one which anticipates any thing but
a wretched affair after all—the jumbling together
of discordant notions—cessations made by some
to the nonsense of others, in order to obtain
their sanction of others to nonsense of their
own. This is no worse in Holland than else-
where. It is the crying sin of Government, that
law-making is in the hand of Legislators know-

ing nothing about legislation. 13-u' t, though this
Code obtains no man's approval, every man is
an advocate for a Code—and a Code as simple,
compact, reasonable, intelligible, and accessible
as possible.- What a blessing it is for a people
to have their civil rights and duties recorded in
one portable book ! If, according to the unani-
mous consent of the Christian world, one volume
contains all that is needful for our immortal,
eternal salvation, might not one other suffice for
the direction of our mortal and transitory pil-
grimage ? Commentaries, as many as you
please ; but. the Law and the Gospel— the Gos-
pel and the Law—should be each at every
man's command, and in every man's possession.
Were our laws comprised in one volume, as the

laws of most other civilized nations 'are, every
body might become familiar with them, and
their errors and defects would be soon corrected
by the influence of opinion. The question was
asked me in Holland again and again, " Why
do not your Law Reformers—those who make
so much noise about the necessity of a change
in your system—come forward with the simple
and intelligible proposition to make law both
cheap, good, and speedy, by the introduction of
a Code ?" To which I could only answer,
" Our so-called Law Reformers are mostly
Lawyers, who will put an end ,to law-abuses on
. .

the same day on which Physicians extirpate
diseases, and tailors determine to go unclad."
Ammo. all the distinguished Jurisconsults of
Hollandh the writings of Jeremy Bentham have
made a profound impression. " I told Sir
James Mackintosh," said the most eminent of
their Literary Lawyers to me, " that Bentham
was the fittest man in England for the produc-
tion of a Code, and he ought to be applied to
before he dies." There is no argument used
against the introduction of a Code in England
which was not brought forward elsewhere, an-
swered again and again by reasonings, and an
swered best of all by the fact that litigation, and
uncertainty, and and vexation, and delay,
and expence, have been checked incalculably in
all those countries which have obtained the bles--
ings and the benefits of Codification.
_ .

I had been particularly led to this subject by
turning over the pages of an intelligent periodi-
cal, entitled " Bijdragen tot Regtsgelectdhcid en
Wetgeving," of which three volumes have ap-
peared, and with whoSe editors I have had the
pleasure of personal interviews. I was led to
this by ohserving in it a Review of an English
periodical on the same subject, " The Jurist,"
of which I must say, by the way, that I know
of no work edited by lawyers which is so re-
markably free from lawyer prejudices—nor which
is so likely, by its combination of judicial know-
ledge with sacred philosophy, to operate a bene-
ficial change in public opinion, and to point out
the most judicious improvements in so mo-
mentous a matter as law-reform. In Holland
the historical school of law-reformers is far more
numerous than the philosophical. The articles
which the Bijradgen contains are overflowing
with learning, and written much in the spirit of
the German jurisconsults. No work on juris-
?rudence published in England contains any
thing like the quantity of curious research which
distinguishes almost all of the productions of the
German and Netherlandic jurisconsults.. Their

fundamental error seems to be an unreasonable
idolatry of what is old, instead of a judicious in-
quiry into what is good. The Flemings are not
less attentive to the subject than the Dutch ; and
the Law Professors of the Universities of Liege
and Louvairi (Luck and Leuven) publish a
periodical in French, intitled " Bibliotheque de
Jurisconsulte et du Publiciste." There is another
Dutch periodical on jurisprudential subjects, the
" Weegschaal." They all contain articles on a
variety of subjects, and (what is wanting in the
minds and in the writings of many of our pub-
licists) have much information on the laws of
foreign countries, such as the Norwegian Worthin
—the State Legislation of North America. The
fundamental laws of Holland are being 'collected
and published by Hamelsveld, one of the Su-
preme Judges of the Hague, under the title of
" Nederlandsche Pandekten." The first volume

in Bvo. of 414 pp.) contains the Constitu-
ional Code, the Laws of the Universities, the

Regulations of the different Ministerial Depart-
ments, the Laws of the States-General and of
the Provincial States.
In most of the Belgic publications the beset-
ting sin of the French school, the straining after
phrases, is too evident, even among the most
popular writers. I will give you an example or
two out of a work on Government lately published
at Brussels :—" Government, to attain the end
of civil society, is nothing but the action of so-
ciety upon itself " Again, " Government is the
influence of all the powers of society in their real,
permanent, and spontaneous forms ;" or, " There
is no hypothesis so absurd in its conception
and in its results as that a society can be ruled

by strength without weakness, or weakness
out strength."
These are the soli of things which daz3le
without enlightening, which perplex without in-
structing, and which, coming out under the sanc-
tion of great names, shut out far more truth
than they let in. Two separate systems of juri-
prudence are engaged in mortal combat--" the
wisdom of ancestors" school, which will have
the usages, customs, and notions of antiquity;
and " the philosophical school," which is for
;Tidying the test of utility to all things ; which
has no reverence for opinions because they are
old, and treats error with rebellious dislike, even
though they can trace their parentage to 7111
epoch before the flood.

GENTLEMEN'S FA SIIIONS -JANUARY.

(From the Gentlemen's Magazine of Fushirms, &e.)
A WALKINC; DRESS.--A superfine dark brows,
double-breasted frock coat, with velvet collar and
lappels, turning to the commencement of the skirts;
the collar is made to swell, anti not very wide; the
skirts reach to the top of the knee, and are very
full, with broad flaps, and pockets in the plaits ;
sleeves large to the wrist, and then made to lit
tight; one button nu the cuff and three above.
The waistcoat of buff kerseymere, is double-breasted,
with two rows of gilt buttons ; there is one hole and
button left open at the top, to admit of the lappels
laying lit on the breast; the collar is made to fall
over. Trowsers of patent water-proof double-milled
keNeymere, fitting tight to the shape, with a fly
and six buttons at bottom, hollowed on the instep
with straps under the boots.
A WALKING DRESS.—A superfine black dress.
coat, made long-waisted, with broad skirts, and
pockets under the flaps; a wide collar, not very flat,
or any cut in front leaving a triangular step ; lappels
turning to the second hole; the sleeves are tight,
with a narrow cuff reaching to the top of the hand.
Trowsers of light drab kerseymere, made very large ;
there is no flap or well's in front, being quite plain ;
the pockets are in the sides. The manteau is very
long, made of beautiful brown superfine cloth, listed
through with amber silk„asid two handsome capes,
lined also; the collar is of the finest and richest
Astracan fur.

A RIDING DREss.—A superfine blue cloth
double-breasted frock coat, with a black velvet col-
lar, made very heavy, and lays flat on the shoulder;
the lappels project considerably beyond the earl of
the collar; it is hooked-and-eyed up the front, anti
no buttons on the breast; skirts lined through with
silk serge, and very full, with pockets on the hips ;
sleeves made to fit tight to the arm, and a strudieg
cuff. The waistcoat of fancy India silk, made rather
long, a plain stand-up collar, with a large step in
front; buttons either covered with the same material,
or of the finest gilt basket. The pantaloons of doe-
skin, fitting beautifully to the shape : Hessian boots
and military spurs.
EVENING DRESS.—A superfine light blue dress
coat, cloth collar, and a double step to the lappel,
1% Ilia is very broad and comes down with a very
sharp point at bottom, that gives it a pretty effect.
The flaps are particularly small, skirts rather broad,
to set off the facings of white silk serge; only one
pocket in the plaits; sleeves not too large, with is
deep cuff and silk buttons, also, on the breast. The
waistcoat is made with a plain stand-up collar,
breast rather long, with steel buttons. The panta-
loons of light stone-eoloured kerseymere, rather
large from the waist to the top of the knee ; froli
whence tight to the uncle, and tied with silk strings
of the same colour. White silk stockings and pumps.
EVENING DnEss.--A light brown fashionable
dress coat made to button over with large highly-
polished steel buttons, frock collar covered with
black velvet, the skirts short and no flaps, sleeves
made very tight and the cuffs faced inside with fine
fur, to keep the wrists warm. The waistcoat of
black velvet. The trowsers of blue kerseymere,
made light, a little hollowed at, the knee, and short
in the legs to shew the sky-blue silk stockings.
EVENING DRESS.—A superfine brown olive coat
made with a heavy cloth collar, and lappels turning
neatly to the fifth button-hole, there are no holes it,
the lappel, being made expressly to be worn open ;
skirts with broad flaps, are cut very narrow and
large. There is a peculiarly new cut in the collar ;
sleeves are en gigot. The waistcoat of fancy spotted
silk is made with a stand-up collar and small step in
front; it is open on the breast to show the shirt.
The trowsers of black single kerseymere are cut in
the same way, with a little difference : like panta-
loons, they fit tight at the 'knee, and the calf of the
leg, but rather loose on the ancle, and confined with
straps of the same to go inside of the shoe.

AGRICULTURAL REPORT-DECEMBER.

The autumn just concluded will dwell on the me-
mory of our country friends, as most memorable for
its superiority over the preceding summer; and with
few interruptions for its most propitious forwarding,
not of this or that, or a part, but of every required
or possible operation of husbandry. No living man
has witnessed, nc chronicle has recorded, a mote
practicable and bountiful autumnal season. Nature,
however, has decreed that the best of things must
have some alloy. The balance is our object.
The April-December has even exceeded the two
preceding months in mildness. Two days and nights
of frost, at least in the south, have proved the sum
total of frost or cold, during the season. At the
commencement, the heavy and repeated falls of rain
forced up such a sudden growth of latter grass or fog,
as was apprehended would be little beneficial, if not
prejudicial, to the cattle grazing upon it, and during
some weeks little improvement appeared in their
condition; but subsequently, in consequence of the
brisk winds and general warmth of the atmosphere,
evaporation took place so speedily and constantly
that the quality of the grass became gradually im-
proved, and a simultaneous improvement followed in
the condition of the grazing stock. The arable soils
also were equally benefited, and generally have been
in the finest state imaginable, whether for the seed
process or for fallowing. In the meantime we have
to lament some serious calamities from storms of
wind and from floods. Wheat sowing, which had
been impeded by the state of the land, in certain
districts, has since commenced, and has been finish-
ed in as husband-like a state as the disgraceful ac-
cumulation of weeds, of every known family and de-
scription, could possibly admit. As to the defi-
ciency of the last crop, it has been reported in Mark-
lane, where information may be expected most uni-
versal and correct, to be on the average one-third
minus en the most productive soils; On the waste,
from one-third to a half. From the genial warmth
of December, the lam -own wheat was above
ground sooner by two or three days than the early.

SPORTING INTELLIGENCE.

HUNTING INTELLIGENCE.
Arroammaxra ➢OR FMB WIERC.

The East Sussex Hound*, on Thursday, at Barcotobe
Cron. ; and Saturday, at Hellingly—at a quarter before
eleven.

The Surrey Pox-hounds, on Thursday, at Gladstone ;
and Saturday, at Lock's Bottom—at half-past ten.
H. Jolliffe, Esq.'s Fox-hounds, on Saturday, at Cha:-
t eleven.

The Hanibkdon Hounds, on Friday, at. Swanmore-
house; arn.l Saturday, at Westhwy—at half-past ten.
Sir T. Sykes's Fox-bounds, on Friday, at Millington
—at ten.