Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 3.djvu/420



, then such surplus shall be, and the same is hereby, appropriated to the sinking fund, to be paid at such times as the situation of the treasury will best permit; and shall be applied, by the commissioners thereof, to the purchase or redemption of the public debt.

. And be it further enacted, That whenever, in any year, there shall be a surplus in the sinking fund, beyond the amount of interest and principal, which may be actually due and payable to the United States, in such year, in conformity with their engagements, the commissioners for the sinking fund shall be, and they are hereby, authorized, with the approbation of the President of the United States, to purchase the debt of the United States, at its market price, if such price shall not exceed the following rates, viz: for stock of the United States, bearing an interest of three per centum per annum, there shall not be paid more than sixty-five dollars for every hundred dollars of the principal thereof: for stock bearing an annual interest of six per centum per annum, there shall not be paid more than the par of the true value thereof; and for stock bearing an annual interest of seven per centum, there shall not be paid an advance above the par value thereof, which shall exceed, for every hundred dollars of stock, the computed value of an annuity of one dollar for a number of years, equal to that during which the stock so purchased will not be reimbursable at the pleasure of the government, estimating, in such computation, the interest of money at six per centum per annum.

. And be it further enacted, That all certificates of public debt which, by payment or purchase, have become, or hereafter shall become, the property of the United States, shall be cancelled or destroyed, at such times, and under such regulations and securities, as the commissioners of the sinking fund, with the approbation of the President, shall establish and determine. And no interest shall be considered as accruing, and no further payment shall be made, on account of such debt, the certificates of which have been so cancelled and destroyed.

. And be it further enacted, That nothing in this act contained shall be construed to prevent the Congress of the United States, if war shall occur with any foreign power, from applying, to any object of public service, any surplus of the amount herein appropriated to the sinking fund, which may be left in any year after paying the interest and principal which may be actually due and payable by the United States, in conformity with their engagements. Nor shall any thing in this act be construed to repeal, alter, of affect, any of the provisions of any former act, pledging the faith of the United States to the payment of the interest or principal of the public debt, but all such payments shall continue to be made at the time heretofore prescribed by law, excepting only as before provided, that no payments shall be made on certificates which have become the property of the United States.

March 3, 1817.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the chiefs and warriors of the Creek nation, who, by virtue of the first article of the treaty of the ninth of August, one thousand eight hundred and fourteen, between the United States and that nation of Indians, are entitled to a reservation of land, which shall include their improvements, shall be authorized to locate said reservation in the following manner, viz:

Every such chief, or warrior, shall and may select such four quarter