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ment, shall appear or can be ascertained to have been issued for any purpose, other than compensations and expenditures for services or supplies towards the prosecution of the late war, and the defence of the united states, or of some part thereof during the same.

13. SECT. XIV. Provided also, That if the total amount of the sums which shall be subscribed to the said loan in the debt of any state, within the time limited for receiving subscriptions thereto, shall exceed the sum by this act allowed to be subscribed within such state, the certificates and credits granted to the respective subscribers, shall bear such proportion to the sums by them respectively subscribed, as the total amount of the said sums shall bear to the whole sum so allowed to be subscribed in the debt of such state within the same. And every subscriber to the said loan, shall, at the time of subscribing, deposit with the commissioner the certificates or notes to be loaned by him.

14. SECT. XV. For two thirds of any sum subscribed to the said loan, by any person or persons, or body politic, which shall be paid in the principal and interest of the certificates or notes issued as aforesaid by the respective states, the subscriber or subscribers shall be entitled to a certificate, purporting that the united states owe to the holder or holders thereof, or his, her or their assigns, a sum to be expressed therein, equal to two thirds of the aforesaid two thirds, bearing an interest of six per centum per annum, payable quarter yearly, and subject to redemption by payments, not exceeding in one year, on account both of principal and interest, the proportion of eight dollars upon a hundred of the sum mentioned in such certificate; and to another certificate, purporting that the united states owe to the holder or holders thereof, his, her or their assigns, a sum to be expressed therein, equal to the proportion of thirty-three dollars and one third of a dollar upon a hundred of the said two thirds of such sum so subscribed, which after the year one thousand eight hundred, shall bear an interest of six per centum per annum, payable quarter yearly, and subject to redemption by payments, not exceeding in one year, on account both of principal and interest, the proportion of eight dollars upon a hundred of the sum mentioned in such certificate; and that for the remaining third of any sum so subscribed, the subscriber or subscribers shall be entitled to a certificate, purporting that the united states owe to the holder or holders thereof, his, her or their assigns, a sum to be expressed therein, equal to the said remaining third, bearing an interest of three per cent. per annum, payable quarter yearly, and subject to redemption by payment of the sum specified therein whenever provision shall be made by law for that purpose.

15. SECT. XVI. The interest upon the certificates which shall be received in payment of the sums subscribed towards the said loan, shall be computed to the last day of the year one thousand seven hundred and ninety-one, inclusively; and the interest upon the stock which shall be created by virtue of the said loan, shall commence or begin to accrue on the first day of the year one thousand seven hundred and ninety-two, and shall be payable quarter yearly, at the same time, and in like manner as the interest on the stock to be created by virtue of the loan above proposed in the domestic debt of the united states.

16. SECT. XVII. If the whole sum allowed to be subscribed in the debt or certificates of any state as aforesaid, shall not be subscribed within the time for that purpose limited, such state shall be entitled to receive, and shall receive from the united states, an interest per centum per annum, upon so much of the said sum as shall not have been so subscribed, equal to that which would have accrued on the deficiency, had the same been subscribed in trust for the non-subscribing creditors of such state, who are holders of certificates or notes issued on account of services or supplies towards the prosecution of the late war, and the defence of the united states or of some part thereof, to be paid in like manner as the interest on the stock which may be created by virtue of the said loan, and to continue until there shall be a settlement of accounts between the united states and the individual states; and in case a balance shall then appear in favor of such state, until provision shall be made for the said balance.

17. SECT. XVIII. As certain states have respectively issued their own certificates, in exchange for those of the united states, whereby it might happen that interest might be twice payable on the same sums:

It is further enacted, That the payment of interest whether to states or to individuals, in respect to the debt of any state, by which such exchange shall have been made, shall be suspended, until it shall appear to the satisfaction of the secretary of the treasury, that certificates issued for that purpose by such state, have been re-exchanged or redeemed, or until those which shall not have been re-exchanged or redeemed, shall be surrendered to the united states.

18. SECT. XIX. So much of the debt of each state as shall be subscribed to the said loan, and the monies (if any) that shall be advanced to the same pursuant to this act, shall be a charge against such state, in account with the united sates.

19. SECT. XX. The monies arising under the revenue-laws, which have been or during the present session of congress may be passed, or so much thereof as may be necessary, shall be and are hereby pledged and appropriated for the payment of the interest on the stock which shall be created by the loans aforesaid, pursuant to the provisions of this act, first paying that which shall arise on the stock created by virtue of the said first mentioned loan, to continue so pledged and appropriated, until the final redemption of the said stock, any law to the contrary notwithstanding, subject nevertheless to such reservations and priorities as may be requisite to satisfy the appropriations heretofore inade, and which during the present session of congress may be made by law, including the sums herein before reserved and appropriated: And to the end that the said monies may be inviolably applied in conformity to this act, and may never be diverted to any other purpose, an account shall be kept of the receipts and disposition thereof, separate and distinct from the product of any other duties, imposts, excises and taxes whatsoever, except such as may be hereafter laid, to make good any deficiency which may be found in the product thereof towards satisfying the interest aforesaid.

20. SECT. XXI. The faith of the united states shall be, and the same is hereby pledged to provide and appropriate hereafter such additional and permanent funds as may be requisite towards supplying any such deficiency, and making full provision for the payment of the interest which shall accrue on the stock to be created by virtue of the loans aforesaid, in conformity to the terms thereof respectively, and according to the tenor of the certificates to be granted for the same pursuant to this act.

21. SECT. XXII. The proceeds of the sales which shall be made of lands in the western territory, now belonging, or that may hereafter belong to the united states, shall be, and are hereby appropriated towards sinking or discharging the debts, for the payment whereof the united states now are, or by virtue of this act may be holden, and shall be applied solely to that use until the said debts shall be fully satisfied. posted 38, and Western Lands 90.]

ACT of August 12, 1790. (Vol. I. p. 268.)

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22. SECT. I. It being desirable by all just and proper means, to effect a reduction of the amount of the public debt, and as the application of such surplus of the revenue as may remain after satisfying the purposes for which appropriations shall have been made by law, will not only contribute to that desirable end, but will be beneficial to the creditors of the united states, by raising the price of their stock, and be productive of considerable saving to the united states.

It is enacted, That all such surplus of the product of the duties on goods, wares and merchandise imported, and on the tonnage of ships or vessels to the last day of December next, inclusively, as shall remain after satisfying the several purposes for which appropriations shall have been made by law to the end of the present session, shall be appplied to the purchase of the debt of the united states, at its market price, if not exceeding the par or true value thereof.

23. SECT. II. The purchases to be made of the said debt, shall be made under the direction of the president of the senate, the chief justice, the secretary of state, the secretary of the treasury, and the attorney-general for the time being; and who, or any three of whom, with the approbation of the president of the united states, shall cause the said purchases to be made in such manner, and under such regulations as shall appear to them best calculated to fulfil the intent of this act: Provided, That the same be made openly, and with due regard to the equal benefit of the several states: And provided further, That to avoid all risk or failure, or delay in the payment of interest stipulated to be paid for and during the year one thousand seven hundred and ninetyone, by the act, entitled, "An act making provision for the debt of the united states, "* such reservations shall be made of the said surplus as may be necessary to make good the said payments, as they shall respectively become due, in case of deficiency in the amount of the receipts into the treasury during the said year, on account of the duties on *Sce former act.

goods, wares and merchandise imported, and the tommage of ships or vessels, after the last day of December next. [See postea 27 and seg.]

24. SECT. III. Accounts of the application of the said monies shall be rendered for settlement as other public accounts, accompanied with returns of the amount of the said debt purchased therewith, at the end of every quarter of a year, to be computed from the time of commencing the purchases aforesaid: And a full and exact report of the proceedings of the said five persons, or any three of them, including a statement of the disbursements and purchases made under their direction, specifying the times thereof, the prices at which, and the parties from whom the same may be made, shall be laid before congress, within the first fourteen days of each session which may ensue the present, during the execution of their said trust. [Sce postea 27.]

25. SECT. IV. The president of the united states shall be, and he is hereby authorized to cause to be borrowed,* on behalf of the united states, a sum or sums not exceeding in the whole two millions of dollars, at an interest not exceeding five per cent. and the sum or sums so borrowed, shall be also applied to the purchase of the said debt of the united states, under the like direction, in the like manner, and subject to the like regulations and restrictions with the surplus aforesaid : Provided, That out of the interest arising on the debt to be purchased in manner aforesaid, there shall be appropriated and applied a sum not exceeding the rate of eight per centum per annum on account both of principal and interest towards the re-payment of the two millions dollars so to be borrowed. [See postea 37, and antea 23.]

ACT of March 3, 1791. (Vol. I. p. 347.]

V53

26. Whereas it hath been made known to congress that the president of the united states, in consequence of " An act making provision for the reduction of the public debt," hath caused a certain loan to be made in Holland, on account of the united states, to the amount of three millions of fiorins, bearing an interest of five per centum per annum, and reimbursable in six yearly instalments, commencing in the year one thousand eight hundred, and ending in the year one thousand eight hundred and six, or at any time sooner, in whole or in part, to the option of the united states.

And whereas it hath been also stated to congress, that the charges upon the said loan have amounted to four and a halfper centum, whereby a doubt hath arisen, whether the said loan be within the meaning of the said last mentioned act, which limits the rate of interest to five per centum per annum ;

For the several loans made at different times (exclufive of thofe mentioned under this article) see acts vol. II. pages 68, 213, 236; vol. III. pages 17, 71, 116, 137, 152, 172, 218, 348, 367; vol. IV. pages 39, 227, (not exceeding five millions of dollars, with the right of reimbursement after fifteen years); vol. IV. p. 232 (two millions of dollars, upon the credit and in anticipation of the direct tax; the interest not to exceed fix per centum per annum, and the principal to be reimburfed at the pleafure of the united states); vol. IV. p. 489; vol. V. p. 142, (not exceeding three millions five hundred thousand dollais, to be reimburfed at any time after fifteen years.)

And whereas it is expedient that the said doubt be removed;

It is enacted and declared, That the loan aforesaid shall be deemed and construed to be within the true intent and meaning of the said act, entitled "An act making provision for the reduction of the public debt," and that any farther loan, to the extent of the principal sum authorized to be borrowed by the said act, the interest whereof shall be five per centum per annum, and the charges whereof shall not exceed the said rate of four and a half per centum, shall, in like manner, be deemed and construed to be within the true intent and meaning of the said act. [See antea 35.]

ACT of May 8, 1792, (Vol. II. p. 115.)

27. SECT. VI. The president of the senate, the chief justice, the secretary of state, the secretary of the treasury, and the attorney-general, for the time being, shall be commissioners, who, or any three of whom are hereby authorized, with the approbation of the president of the mited states, to purchase the debt of the united states, at its market price, if not exceeding the par or true value thereof; for which purchase the interest on so much of the public debt, as has already been, or may hereafter be purchased for the united states, or as shall be paid into the treasury, and so much of the monies appropriated for the payment of the interest on the foreign and domestic debt, as shall exceed what may be sufficient for the payment of such interest to the creditors of the united states, shall be and are hereby appropriated. And it shall be the duty of the said commissioners to render to the legislature, within two months after the commencement of the first session thereof in every year, a full and precise account of all such purchases made, and public debt redeemed, in pursuance of this act. [See antea 23, 24, and postea 30, 39.]

28. SECT. VII. Whereas it is expedient to establish a fund for the gradual reduction of the public debt: It is enacted, That the interest on so much of the debt of the united states, as has been or shall be purchased or redeemed for or by the united states, or as shall be paid into the treasury thereof in satisfaction of any debt or demand, and the surplus of any sum or sums appropriated for the payment of the interest upon the said debt, which shall remain after paying such interest, shall be, and hereby are appropriated and pledged firmly and inviolably for and to the purchase and redemption of the said debt, to be applied under the direction of the president of the senate, the chief justice, the secretary of state, the secretary of the treasury and the attorney-general for the time being, or any three of them, with the approbation of the president of the united states, for the time being, in manner following, that is to say: First,to the purchase of the several species of stock constituting the debt of the united states, at their respective market prices, not exceeding the par or true value thereof, and, as nearly as may be, in equal proportions, until the annual amount of the said funds, together with any other provisions which may be made by law, shall be equal to two percentum of the whole amount of the outstanding funded stock bearing a present interest of six per centum : Thenceforth, Secondly, to the redemption of the said last mentioned stock, according to the right for that pur

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