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[184]

‘They will be dismissed if you advise it,’ rejoined the lawyer; ‘and if you will promise to do it, I shall be perfectly satisfied.’

‘These colored people have been very badly treated,’ answered Friend Hopper. ‘If the aggressor wants to settle the affair, he had better go to them and offer some equivalent for the trouble he has given.’

The lawyer replied, ‘When he agreed to manumit the man for one hundred and fifty dollars, he expected these suits would be dismissed, of course, as a part of the bargain. What sum do you think these people will take to withdraw them?’

Friend Hopper said he thought they would do it for one hundred and fifty dollars.

‘I will pay it,’ replied Mr. Sergeant; ‘for Colonel Ridgeley is very anxious to return home.’

Thus the money paid for the deed of manumission was returned. Forty dollars were distributed among the colored people, to repay the damage done to their property. After some trifling incidental expenses had been deducted, the remainder was returned to the emancipated slave; who thus obtained his freedom for about fifty dollars, instead of the sum originally offered.

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Isaac T. Hopper (2)
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