Statute Ⅱ.
[Obsolete.]
Chap. ⅩⅬⅤ.—An Act making further provision for the support of Public Credit, and for the redemption of the Public Debt.
Commissioners of the sinking fund may borrow, &c.Section 1. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That it shall be lawful for the commissioners of the sinking fund, and they are hereby empowered, with the approbation of the President of the United States, to borrow, or cause to be borrowed, from time to time, such sums, in anticipation of the revenues appropriated, not exceeding, in one year, one million of dollars, to be reimbursed within a year from the time of each loan, as may be necessary for the payment of the interest which shall annually accrue on the public debt;Provision for the payment of the interest on such borrowing. and for the payment of the interest on any such temporary loan, which shall not exceed six per centum per annum, so much of the proceeds of the duties on goods, wares and merchandise imported, on the tonnage of ships or vessels, and upon spirits distilled within the United States, and stills, as may be necessary shall be and are hereby appropriated.
Loan to be opened to the full amount of the foreign debt.Sec. 2. And be it further enacted, That a loan be opened at the treasury, to the full amount of the present foreign debt, to continue open until the last day of December, in the year one thousand seven hundred and ninety-six, and that the sums, which may be subscribed to the said loan, shall be payable and receivable, by way of exchange, in equal sums of the principal of the said foreign debt; and that any sum, so subscribed and paid, shall bear an interest equal to the rate of interest which is now payable on the principal of such part of the foreign debt, as shall be paid or exchanged therefor, together with an addition of one half per centum per annum; the said interest to commence on the first day of January next succeeding the time of each subscription, and to be paid quarter yearly, at the same periods at which interest is now payable and paid upon the domestic funded debt: Provided, That the principal of the said loan may be reimbursed at any time, at the pleasure of the United States.
How credits shall be given to subscribers.Sec. 3. And be it further enacted, That credits to the respective subscribers, for the sums by them respectively subscribed to the said loan, shall be entered and given on the books of the treasury in like manner as for the present domestic funded debt; Certificates.and that certificates therefor, of a tenor conformable with the provisions of this act, signed by the Register of the Treasury, shall issue to the several subscribers, and that the said credits, or stock standing in the names of the said subscribers, respectively, shall be transferable, in like manner, and by the like ways and means, as are provided by the seventh section of the act aforesaid, intituled Ante, p. 138.“An act making provision for the debt of the United States,” touching the credits or stock therein mentioned; and that the interest to be paid upon the stock which shall be constituted by virtue of the said loan, shall be paid at the offices or places, where the credits for the same shall, from time to time, stand or be, subject to the like conditions and restrictions, as are prescribed in and by the eighth section of the act last aforesaid.
Principal, &c. where to be paid.Sec. 4. And be it further enacted, That the interest and principal of all loans, authorized by this act, shall be made payable at the treasury of the United States only, so far as relates to the payment of the principal and interest of the domestic debt.
Certain duties, which shall be set free, appropriated.Sec. 5. And be it further enacted, That so much of the duties on goods, wares and merchandise imported, on the tonnage of ships or vessels, and upon spirits distilled within the United States, and stills, heretofore appropriated for the interest of the foreign debt, as may be liberated or set free, by subscriptions to the said loan, together with such further sums of the proceeds of the said duties, as may be necessary, shall be, and they are hereby pledged and appropriated, for the payment of the
