Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 2.djvu/282



into effect the convention of the thirtieth day of April, one thousand eight hundred and three, between the United States of America and the French Republic, the Secretary of the Treasury be, and he is hereby authorized, to cause to be constituted, certificates of stock, signed by the register of the treasury, in favour of the French Republic, or of its assignees, for the sum of eleven millions two hundred and fifty thousand dollars, bearing an interest of six per centum per annum, from the time when possession of Louisiana shall have been obtained, in conformity with the treaty of the thirtieth day of April, one thousand eight hundred and three, between the United States of America and the French Republic, and in other respects conformable with the tenor of the convention aforesaid; and the President of the United States is authorized to cause the said certificates of stock to be delivered to the government of France, or to such person or persons as shall be authorized to receive them, in three months at most, after the exchange of the ratifications of the treaty aforesaid, and after Louisiana shall be taken possession of in the name of the government of the United States; and credit, or credits, to the proprietors thereof, shall thereupon be entered and given on the books of the treasury, in like manner as for the present domestic funded debt, which said credits or stock shall thereafter be transferable only on the books of the treasury of the United States, by the proprietor or proprietors of such stock, his, her or their attorney: and the faith of the United States is hereby pledged for the payment of the interest, and for the reimbursement of the principal of the said stock, in conformity with the provisions of the said convention: Provided however, that the Secretary of the Treasury may, with the approbation of the President of the United States, consent to discharge the said stock in four equal annual instalments, and also shorten the periods fixed by the convention for its reimbursement: And provided also, that every proprietor of the said stock may, until otherwise directed by law, on surrendering his certificate of such stock, receive another to the same amount, and bearing an interest of six per centum per annum, payable quarter-yearly at the treasury of the United States.

. And be it further enacted, That the annual interest accruing on the said stock, which may, in conformity with the convention aforesaid, be payable in Europe, shall be paid at the rate of four shillings and sixpence sterling for each dollar, if payable in London, and at the rate of two guilders and one half of a guilder, current money of Holland, for each dollar, if payable in Amsterdam.

. And be it further enacted, That a sum equal to what will be necessary to pay the interest which may accrue on the said stock to the end of the present year, be, and the same is hereby appropriated for that purpose, to be paid out of any monies in the treasury not otherwise appropriated.

. And be it further enacted, That from and after the end of the present year, (in addition to the annual sum of seven millions three hundred thousand dollars yearly appropriated to the sinking fund, by virtue of the act, intituled “,”) a further annual sum of seven hundred thousand dollars, to be paid out of the duties on merchandise and tonnage, be, and the same hereby is, yearly appropriated to the said fund, making in the whole, an annual sum of eight millions of dollars, which shall be vested in the commissioners of the sinking fund in the same manner, shall be applied by them for the same purposes, and shall be, and continue appropriated, until the whole of the present debt of the United States, inclusively of the stock created by virtue of this act, shall be reimbursed and redeemed, under the same limitations as have been provided by the first section of the above-mentioned act, respecting the annual appropriation of seven millions three hundred thousand dollars, made by the same.