Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 2.djvu/772



receive, possess, enjoy and retain to them and their successors, lands, rents, hereditaments, goods, chattels and effects, of what kind, nature or quality soever, and the same to sell, grant, demise, alien or dispose of, to sue and be sued, plead and be impleaded, answer and be answered, defend and be defended in courts of record or any other place whatsoever, subject nevertheless to the rules, regulations, restrictions, limitations and provisions, herein after prescribed and declared.

. And be it further enacted, That the capital stock of said corporation may consist of five hundred thousand dollars, divided into shares of ten dollars each, and shall be paid in manner following, that is to say: One dollar on each share at the time of subscribing, one dollar on each share at sixty days, and one dollar on each share ninety days after the time of subscribing; the remainder to be called for as the president and directors may deem proper: Provided, they do not call for any payment in less than thirty days, nor for more than one dollar on each share at any one time.

. And be it further enacted, That the subscription for filing up said stock, shall be opened at the courthouse in the town of Alexandria on the first Monday in June next, under the direction of fifteen commissioners, and that John Longden, William Veitch, James C. Deneale, Daniel M’Leod, John Cohagen, James M’Guire, Adam Lynn, Mark Butts, Joseph Dean, James Sanderson, John Young, Isaac Entwistle, Robert Young, Peter Saunders and John Gird, are hereby appointed commissioners for that purpose, which subscriptions shall be kept open for one day at least and such further time as said commissioners may direct; but in case the amount of the subscriptions shall exceed the number of shares herein before allowed to be subscribed, the excess thus created shall be reduced within the number of shares authorized to be subscribed as aforesaid in the manner following, to wit, that is to say: From the subscriptions highest in amount the commissioners shall subtract a share or shares, until the same be made equal to the subscription or subscriptions next highest in amount, and until the number of shares shall be reduced to the amount authorized to be subscribed as aforesaid: Provided always, that it be hereby expressly understood that all the subscriptions and shares obtained in consequence thereof, shall be deemed and held to be for the sole and exclusive use and benefit of the persons, copartnerships or bodies politic subscribing or in whose behalf the subscriptions respectively shall be declared to be made at the time of making the same, and all bargains, contracts, promises, agreements and engagements in any wise contravening this provision, shall be void, and the persons, copartnerships or bodies politic respectively, so subscribing, or for whose use the subscriptions are declared to be made as aforesaid, shall have, enjoy and receive the share or shares respectively, in consequence thereof obtained, and all the interests and emoluments thence arising, as freely, fully and absolutely as if they had severally and respectively paid the consideration therefor, any such bargains, contracts, promises, agreements, or engagements to the contrary thereof to the contrary notwithstanding.

. And be it further enacted, That the lands, tenements and hereditaments which it shall be lawful for the said corporation to hold, shall be only such as shall be requisite for its immediate accommodation, in relation to the convenient transaction of its business, and such as shall have been conveyed to it in satisfaction of debts previously contracted in the course of its dealings, or purchased at sales on judgments which shall have been obtained for such debts; nor shall this corporation directly or indirectly deal in or trade in any thing except bills of exchange, gold or silver bullions, or in the sale of goods which shall be the produce of its land or of goods sold by virtue of an execution on a judgment obtained by them.

. And be it further enacted,