A paragraph has lately gone the round of the papers announcing that
a gentleman of Virginia had emancipated _upwards of eighty slaves_,
and chartered a vessel to send them at his own expense to Hayti, but
without giving the name of the author of so distinguished an act of
munificence.
"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."