allowed.

and privates allowed to the regiment of light Drivers to artillery, each company shall be entitled to the artillery twelve drivers of artillery, who shall be enlisted for five years, unless sooner discharged, and receive the same pay, rations and clothing, as the privates of the army: Provided, Such drivers of artillery shall, at all times, be liable to do duty in the ranks when the company shall

not be mounted.

Proviso.

done away.

Sec. 7. And be it further enacted, That so Corporeal much of the "Act for establishing rules and punishment articles for the government of the armies of the by whipping, United States," as authorises the infliction of corporeal punishment, by stripes or lashes, be, and the same hereby is repealed.

H. CLAY,

Speaker of the House of Representatives.

WM. H. CRAWFORD,

President of the Senate, pro-tempore.

May 16, 1812.

APPROVED,

JAMES MADISON,

CHAPTER LXXXVII.

AN ACT to incorporate a Bank in the town of Alexandria, by the name and style of the Mechanics' Bank of Alexandria.

BE it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the subscribers to the Mechanics' Bank of Alexandria, their successors and assigns, shall be and they biched are hereby created and made a body politic,

Corporation

by the name and style of the Mechanics' Bank of Alexandria, and by that name and style shall be and are hereby made able and capable in law, to have, purchase, receive, possess, enjoy and retain to them and their successors, lands, rents, hereditaments, goods, chattels and ef fects, 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, hereinafter prescribed and declared.

Sec. 2. 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.

Sec. 3. And be it further enacted, That the subscription for filling up said stock, shall be opened at the court house 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 authorised 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 authorised 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, co-partnerships or bodies politic resspectively, 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 ab. solutely 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.

Proviso.

Real estate, what may be held by the Bank.

Sec. 4. 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.

Sec. 5. And be it further enacted, That for Directors to the well ordering the affairs of the said corpobe appointed. ration, there shall be fifteen directors, eight of which directors at least shall be practical mechanics, and not less than ten of said directors shall be resident in the town of Alexandria, of whom there shall be an election on the first Monday after the subscription shall be closed, and on the second Monday of March, in each year thereafter, by the stockholders or proprietors of the capital stock of the said corporation, and by a plurality of votes actually given: Provided however, That the eight mechanics shall first be declared elected, although they should not have the greatest number of votes; and those who shall be duly chosen at any election, shall be capable of serving as directors by virtue of such choice until the end or expiration of the second Monday in March next ensuing the time of such election, and until others shall be chosen. And the said directors, at their first meeting after each election, shall choose one of their number as President; no person, a di

Proviso.

rector of another bank, or the partner in trade of a director of another bank, shall be a director in this Bank: Provided, That in case it should at any time happen, that an election of directors should not be made upon any day when, pursuant to this act, it ought to have been made, the corporation shall not for that cause be deemed to be dissolved; but it shall be lawful on any other day within thirty days thereafter, to hold and make an election of directors in such manner as shall have been regulated by the laws and ordinances of said corporation.

Proviso.

Directors to

but what is

Sec. 6. And be it further enacted, That no director shall be entitled to any emolument, have no unless the same shall have been allowed by emolument the stockholders at a general meeting; but the given by directors shall make such compensation to the stockholders. President for his extraordinary services and attendance at the Bank as shall appear to them reasonable.

rectors may

Sec. 7. And be it further enacted, That the board of directors by a majority of votes shall Board of dimake bye-laws, determine the manner of do- make byeing business, and the rules and forms to be laws. pursued, and dispose of the money and credit of the Bank in such manner as shall seem to them best calculated to promote the interest of the stockholders.

tors necessa

Sec. 8. And be it further enacted, That a Majority of majority of the whole number of directors whole numshall be necessary in the choice of a President, ber of direcCashier, and other officers of the Bank; but four members, with the President, may con- choice of Prestitute a board for transacting the ordinary sident, &c. business of the Bank.

ry to a

Sec. 9. And be it further enacted, That Limitation of neither the President, nor any director shall discounts to be entitled to receive, on accommodation paper, discounts or loans, exceeding in the

the directors.