Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 4.djvu/840

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four of the newspapers printed in Pennsylvania, Maryland, and 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 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 Potowmac 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 hereinbefore 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 Potowmac 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 adjudges 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