ely to detain him until the Act of Congress could
be examined."

Jared Ingersoll, an old and highly respectable lawyer, rose to say, "May
it please your honors, I believe Mr. Hopper is correct in his opinion. A
National Intelligencer containing the Act of Congress is at my office,
and I will send for it if you wish." The paper was soon brought, and
Friend Hopper read aloud the section which Mr. Ingersoll pointed out;
placing strong emphasis on such portions as bore upon the case then
pending. When he had concluded, he observed, "I presume the court must
now be convinced that the censures so liberally bestowed on my conduct
are altogether unmerited."

The counsel for the claimant said a newspaper was not legal evidence of
the existence of a law. Friend Hopper replied, "The court is well aware
that I am no lawyer. But I have heard lawyers talk about _prima facie_
evidence; and I should suppose the National Intelligencer amounted at
least to that sort of evidence, for it is the acknowledged organ of
government, in which the laws are published for the information of
citizens. But if that is not satisfactory, I presume the court will
detain the man until an authenticated copy of the law can be obtained."

After some discussion, the court ordered a copy of the law to be
procured; but the attorney abandoned the case, and the slave was set at
liberty.

As soon as this decision was announced, the throng of spectators, white
and colored, began to shout, "Hurra for Mr. Hopper!" The populace were
so accustomed to see him come off victorious from such contests, that
they began to consider his judgment infallible.

Many years afterward, when Friend Hopper met Mahlon Dickinson on board
a steam-boat, he inquired whether he recollected the scolding he gave
him on a certain occasion. He replied pleasantly, "Indeed I do. I
thought I _had_ you that time, and I intended to give it to you; but you
slipped through my fingers, as usual."

THE NEW-JERSEY SLAVE.

In the year 1809, a gentleman from East New-Jersey visited Philadelphia,
and brought a young slave to wait upon him. When they had been in that
city four or five months, the lad called upon Isaac T. Hopper to inquire
whether his residence in Philadelphia had made him free. He was informed
that he would not have a legal claim to freedom till he had been there
six months. Just as the term expired, somebody told the master that the
laws of Pennsylvania conferred freedom on