"We think it due to justice," says the Norfolk Herald, "to supply this deficiency, and to add the following facts, which have been communicated to us by gentlemen familiar with them, as well as by Captain Russell, one of the owners of the brig Hannah and Elizabeth, of Baltimore, the vessel chartered.
"The gentleman who has thus distinguished himself, is David Minge, of Charles City county, living near Sandy Point, on James River. Captain Russell informs us that there were put on board the Hannah and Elizabeth eighty-seven colored people of different ages, from three months to forty years, being all the slaves Mr. Minge owned, except two old men, whom he had likewise manumitted, but who, being past service, he retains and supports them.
"The value of these negroes, at the prices now going, might be estimated at about twenty-six thousand dollars! and Mr. Minge expended, previous to their embarkation, about twelve hundred dollars in purchasing ploughs, hoes, iron, and other articles of husbandry for them; besides providing them with several suits of clothes to each, provisions, groceries, cooking utensils, and everything which he supposed they might require for their comfort during the passage, and for their use after their arrival out. He also paid sixteen hundred dollars for the charter of the vessel.
"But Mr. Minge's munificence does not end here. On the bank of the river, as they were about to go on board, he had a peck of dollars brought down, and calling them around him, under a tree, he distributed the hoard among them, in such sums, and under such regulations, that each individual did, or would, receive seven dollars.
"By this provision, Mr. Minge thought his emigrants would be enabled to commence the cultivation of the soil immediately after their arrival, without being dependent on President Boyer for any favor whatever, unless the permission to improve the government lands be so considered.
"Mr. Minge is about twenty-four or twenty-five years of age, unmarried, and unencumbered in every respect; possesses an ample fortune, and received the benefits of a collegiate education at Harvard University.
"We have heard of splendid sacrifices at the shrine of philanthropy; aged men, on quitting the stage of mortal existence, have bequeathed large endowments to public charities, and princely legacies to religious and moral institutions. But where shall we find an instance of the kind attributable to a man of Mr. Minge's age? The case, we believe, is without a parallel."
TEMPTATION RESISTED AND HONESTY REWARDED.
FROM DILLWYN'S ANECDOTES.