and the same are hereby severally and respectively approved and confirmed by Congress, with the following limitations and conditions, that is to say: that neither of said banks shall issue bills or notes for circulation, until one-half of the amount of their respective capitals shall have been actually paid in; and that, to enable the directors named in the said charters respectively to comply with this limitation and restriction, they shall be authorised to make calls, according to the provisions contained in the said charters, to an amount not exceeding, at any one time, forty per cent. upon the whole stock subscribed by each stockholder, and shall not be restricted to ten per cent. at any one call, as is provided in the said charters; and that neither of said banks shall have any authority to enlarge or augment its capital, or to make it larger, at any time, than the sum of two hundred thousand dollars, without the consent and approbation of Congress previously obtained; and that neither of the said banks shall, at any time, owe, either by bond, bill, note, or other contract, over and above its actual deposites, an amount to exceed twice the amount of its capital stock actually paid in, instead of the limitation in this respect contained in the said charters respectively; and that each of the said banks shall have complied with all the requirements of their respective charters, as altered, modified, and restricted by this act, so as to enable them to commence the business of banking, and shall actually have commenced banking on or before the first day of January next, or their charters, or the charters of such of them as shall have failed to comply with this limitation, shall be void and of no effect; and the acceptance of said acts of incorporation, by the grantees or stockholders respectively, shall be deemed and taken as acceptances, subject to the conditions and limitations herein prescribed; and any infringement upon, or violation of, the provisions and requirements of this act, or of the limitations and restrictions therein contained, on the part of either of the said institutions, shall forfeit its charter, and put an end to its corporate powers and privileges. [Approved, March 3, 1837.]

RESOLUTIONS.

[No. 1.] A resolution to enable the postmaster general more readily to change the commencement of the contract year in the post office department.

thorised to

December,

Resolved, &c. That the postmaster general be, and he is here- Postmaster by, authorised and empowered to let the contracts for the trans- general auportation of the mails in those sections of the United States where make conthey expire on the thirty first days of December, eighteen hun- tracts which dred and thirty-seven, eighteen hundred and thirty-eight, and expire on 31st eighteen hundred and thirty-nine, respectively, for four years and 1837, 8, and six months, so as to cause them to terminate on the thirtieth day '9, to termiof June, eighteen hundred and forty-two, eighteen hundred and nate on 30th forty-three, and eighteen hundred and forty-four, to the end that June, 1842, '3, the contract may commence on the first day of July, instead of the first day of January. [Approved, March 2d, 1837.]

VOL. IV.

58

and '4.

pension fund,

[No. 2.] Resolution granting a pension to Susan Decatur, widow of the late Stephen Decatur.

To be paid Resolved, &c. That Mrs. Susan Decatur, widow of the late from the navy Commodore Stephen Decatur, be paid from the navy pension a pension for fund, a pension for five years, commencing from the thirtieth of five years, &c. June, eighteen hundred and thirty-four, in conformity with the

Proviso.

In the case of

the claims of Bank of Ma. ryland.

the Union

The terms of settlement proposed by

and directors

of the Bank

provisions of the act concerning naval pensions and the navy pension fund, passed thirtieth June eighteen hundred and thirtyfour, and that she be allowed from said fund the arrearages of the half-pay of a post captain, from the death of Commodore Decatur to the thirtieth of June, eighteen hundred and thirty-four, together with the pension hereby allowed her, and that the arrearages of said pension be vested in the secretary of the treasury in trust for the use of the said Susan Decatur: Provided, That the said pension shall cease on the death or marriage of the said Susan Decatur. [Approved, March 3d, 1837.]

[No. 4.] Resolution authorising the Secretary of the Treasury to correct a clerical error in the award of the Commissioners under the treaty with France of eighteen hundred and thirty-one.

Resolved, &c. That the secretary of the treasury be, and he hereby is authorised and directed, in making payment of the two last instalments to the claimants under the treaty with France, of July four, eighteen hundred and thirty-one, to correct a clerical mistake which occurred in the award of the commissioners in the case of the claim of the Union Bank of Maryland; by which mistake the sum of ten thousand dollars awarded to said bank, has gone to the use of all the other claimants; and that he correct such mistake by making the proper alteration in the proportion to be paid to the several claimants in the said two last instalments, so that all the claimants shall obtain their just proportion of the whole indemnity and no more. [Approved, March 3d, 1837.]

[No. 5.] A resolution authorising the Secretary of the Treasury to receive from the Bank of the United States, under the Pennsylvania charter, payment for the stock of the United States, in the late Bank of the United States.

Resolved, &c. That the secretary of the treasury be directed to accept the terms of settlement proposed by the president and directors of the Bank of the United States, under the Pennsylvania charter, in their memorial to Congress, presented at the present session, for the payment to the United States of the capital stock of the United owned by them in the late Bank of the United States, and the States, under the Pennsyl- final adjustment and settlement of the claims connected with, or vania charter arising out of the same; and to take such obligation for the payto be accepted. ment of the several instalments in said proposed terms of settleProviso. ment mentioned, as he may think proper: Provided, That nothing herein contained shall prejudice or affect in any way the question, between the general government of the United States, and the late Bank of the United States, respecting the claim for damages on account of the protest of the bill of exchange, drawn on the French government. [Approved, March 3d, 1837.]

APPENDIX.

ACT OF THE STATE OF VIRGINIA.*

An act incorporating the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Company.-[Passed January 27, 1824.]

Whereas a navigable canal from the tide water of the river Patowmac, in the District of Columbia, to the mouth of the Savage creek on the north branch of said river, and extending thence across the Allegheny mountain, to some convenient point on the navigable waters of the river Ohio, or some one of its tributary streams, to be fed, through its course, on the east side of the mountain, by the river Potowmac and the streams which empty therein, and on the western side of the mountain, and in passing over the same, by all such streams of water as may be beneficially drawn thereto by feeders, dams, or any other practicable mode, will be a work of great profit and advantage to the people of this State, and of the neighboring States, and may ultimately tend to establish a connected navigation between the eastern and western waters, so as to extend and multiply the means and facilities of internal commerce and personal intercourse between the two great sections of the United States, and to interweave more closely all the mutual interests and affections that are calculated to consolidate and perpetuate the vital principles of Union; and whereas it is represented to this General Assembly, that the Patowmac company are willing and desirous that a charter shall be granted to a new company, upon the terms and conditions hereinafter expressed; and that the charter of the present company shall cease and determine.

1. Be it therefore enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia, That so soon as the legislatures of Maryland and Pennsylvania, and the Congress of the United States, shall assent to the provisions of this act, and the Patowmac company shall have signified their assent to the same, by their corporate act, a copy whereof shall be delivered to the executives of the several states aforesaid, and to the secretary of the treasury of the United States, there shall be appointed by the said executives and the President of the United States, three commissioners on the part of each state, and of the government of the United States, any one of whom shall be competent to act for his respective government. The said commissioners shall cause books to be opened at such time and places as they shall think fit in their respective states, and the District of Columbia, under the management of such persons

* For the act of Congress in relation to these acts, sce ante page 2132, chap. 857.

as they shall appoint, for receiving subscriptions to the capital stock of the company hereinafter incorporated; which subscriptions may be made either in person or by power of attorney; and notice shall be given in such manner as may be deemed advisable, by one or more of the said commissioners, of the time and places of opening the books.

2. And the said commissioners shall cause the books to be kept open at least forty days, and within twenty days after the expiration thereof, shall call a general meeting of the subscribers at the city of Washington, of which meeting notice shall be given, by a majority of the commissioners aforesaid, in at least four of the newspapers printed in Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, and the District of Columbia, at least twenty days next before the said meeting, and such meeting shall, and may be, continued from day to day until the business is finished; and the commissioners, at the time and place aforesaid, shall lay before such of the subscribers as shall meet according to the said notice, the book containing the state of the said subscriptions: and, if one fourth of the capital sum of six millions of dollars should appear not to have been subscribed, then the said commissioners, or a majority of them, at the said meeting, are empowered to take and receive subscriptions to make up such deficiency, and may continue to take and receive such subscriptions for the term of twelve months thereafter; and a just and true list of all the subscribers with the sum subscribed by each, shall be made out, and returned by the said commissioners, or by a majority of them, under their hands, to the board of public works of this state, to the Governor and Council of the state of Maryland, to the secretary of state of the state of Pennsylvania, and to the secretary of the treasury of the United States, to be carefully preserved; and in case more than six millions of dollars shall be subscribed, then the sum subscribed shall be reduced to that amount, by the said commissioners, or a majority of them, by beginning at and striking off a share from the largest subscription or subscriptions, and continuing to strike off a share from all subscriptions under the largest and above one share, until the same is reduced to the capital aforesaid, or until a share is taken from all subscriptions above one share; and lots shall be drawn between subscribers of equal sums, to determine the number of shares which each subscriber shall be allowed to hold, on a list to be made for striking off as aforesaid; and, if the sum subscribed still exceed the capital aforesaid, then to strike off by the same rule, until the sum subscribed is reduced to the capital aforesaid, or all the subscriptions reduced to one share respectively; and, if there still be an excess, then lots shall be drawn to determine the subscribers who are to be excluded, in order to reduce the subscription to the capital aforesaid; which striking off shall be certified on the lists aforesaid; and the said capital stock of the company, hereby incorporated, shall consist of six millions of dollars, divided into sixty thousand shares, of one hundred dollars each; of which every person subscribing may take, and subscribe for one or more whole shares; and such subscriptions may be paid and discharged either in the legal currency of the United States, or in the certificates of stock of the present Patowmac company, at the par or nominal value thereof, or in the claims of the creditors of the said company, certified by the acting president and directors to have been due, for principal and debt, on the day on which the assent of the said company shall have been signified by their corporate act as hereinafter required: Provided, That the said certificates of stock shall not exceed, in the whole amount, the sum of three hundred and eleven thousand one hundred and eleven dollars and eleven cents; nor the said claims the sum of one hundred and seventy-five

thousand eight hundred dollars; Provided, also, That the stock so paid for in certificates of the stock of the present company, and of the debts due from the said company, shall be entitled to dividend, only as hereinafter provided; and that no payment shall be received, in such certificates of stock, until the Patowmac company shall have executed the conveyance prescribed by the thirteenth section of this act. And provided, That, unless one-fourth of the said capital shall be subscribed, as aforesaid, all subscriptions made in consequence of this act, shall be void; and, in case one-fourth, and less than the whole capital, shall be subscribed as aforesaid, then the said commissioners or a majority of them, are hereby empowered and directed to take and receive the subscriptions, which shall first be offered in whole shares, as aforesaid, until the deficiency shall be made up; a certificate of which additional subscription shall be made, under the hands of said commissioners, or a majority of them, for the time being, and returned as aforesaid.

3. And be it further enacted, That, whenever one fourth, or a greater part of the said stock shall have been subscribed, in the manner aforesaid, then the subscribers, their heirs and assigns, shall be, and are hereby, declared to be incorporated into a company, by the name of the "Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Company," and may sue, and be sued, and, as such, shall have perpetual succession, and a common seal; and the estates, rights, and interests of the said company, shall be adjudged and taken in law to be real estate; and it shall, thereupon, be the duty of the said commissioners, or a majority of them, to call a general meeting of the said subscribers, at such time and place as they, or a majority of them, shall appoint, after advertising the same, in such public prints as they, or a majority of them, may think proper, and such of the said subscribers as shall be present at the said meeting, or a majority of them, are hereby empowered and required to elect a president and six directors, for conducting the said undertaking, and managing all the said company's business and concerns, for, and during such time, not exceeding three years, as the said subscribers, or a majority of them shall think fit; and, in counting the votes of all general meetings of the said company, each member shall be allowed one vote for every share, as far as ten shares, and one vote for every five shares above ten, by him or her held at the time, in the stock of the said company; and any proprietor, by writing, under his or her hand, executed before two witnesses, may depute any other member or proprietor, to vote and act as proxy for him or her, at any general meeting: Provided, also, That no officer or director of said company shall, under any circumstances, be allowed to vote on any stock but his own.

4. And be it further enacted, That the said president and directors, and their successors, or a majority of them, assembled, shall have full power and authority to appoint, and, at their pleasure, dismiss such engineer or engineers, and agent or agents, as they may deem expedient, and to fix their compensation; and to agree with any person or persons, on behalf of the said company, to cut canals, erect dams, open feeders, construct locks, and perform such other works, as they shall judge necessary or expedient, for completing the canal hereinbefore mentioned and described; and, out of the money arising from the subscriptions and tolls and other aids, hereinafter given, to pay for the same, and to repair and keep in order the said canals, locks, and other works necessary thereto, and to defray all incidental charges; and also to appoint a treasurer, clerk, and other officers, toll-gatherers, managers, and servants, as they shall judge requisite, and to agree for, and settle their respective wages or allowances; and to settle, pass, and sign their accounts; and