receive, re-issue, and circulate, the notes of that institution, shall not be received in payments either to the Government or to the National Bank.

3. The possibility that the national currency of coin may not be perfectly restored, at the time of organizing the bank, has induced the proposition, that the payment of the Government subscription to the capital shall be made in treasury notes, which will be receivable in all payments to the Government, and to the National Bank, but which will not be demandable in coin. The principle of this proposition might perhaps be usefully extended, to authorize the National Bank to issue notes of a similar character, for a limited period; and it will be proper further to apprise the State banks that the notes of sucn banks as do not agree to receive, re-issue, and circulate, these treasury notes, or National Bank notes, shall not be received in payments, either to the Government or to the National Bank.

Hon. JOHN C. CALHOUN,

I have the honor to be, &c.

A. J. DALLAS.

Chairman of the Committee on the National Currency.

OUTLINE OF A PLAN FOR THE NATIONAL BANK, REFERRED TO IN THE PRECEDING LETTER.

1. The Charter of the Bank.

1. To continue twenty-one years. 2. To be exclusive.

II. The Capital of the Bank.

1. To be $35,000,000, at present.

2. To be augmented by Congress to $50,000,000; and the additional sum to be distributed among the several States.

3. To be divided into 350,000 shares, of 100 dollars each, on the capital of 35,000,000; and to be subscribed,

By the United States, one fifth, or 70,000 shares,

$7,000,000

By corporations and individuals, four fifths, or 280,000 shares, 28,000,000

$35,000,000

4. To be compounded of public debt, and of gold and silver, as to the subscriptions of corporations and individuals, in the proportions

Of funded debt, three-fourths, equal to

Of gold and silver, one fourth, equal to

The subscriptions of 6 per cent. stock to be at par.

The subscriptions of 3 per cent. stock to be at 56 per cent.

The subscriptions of 7 per cent. stock to be at 106.51 per cent.

$21,000,000

7,000,000

28,000,000

5. The subscriptions in public debt may be discharged at pleasure by the Government, at the rate at which it is subscribed.

6. The subscriptions of corporations or individuals to be payable by instalments.

7. The subscriptions of the United States to be paid in instalments, not extending beyond a period of seven years; the first instalment to be paid at the time of subscribing, and the payments to be made at the pleasure of Government, either

In gold and silver; or

In six per cent. stock, redeemable at the pleasure of the Government; or In treasury notes, not fundable, nor bearing interest, nor payable at a particular time, but receivable in all payments to the bank, with a right, on the part of the bank, to re-issue the treasury notes so paid, from time to time, until they are discharged by payments to the Government.

8. The bank shall be at liberty to sell the stock portion of its capital, to ab amount not exceeding in any one year; but, if the sales are intended to be effected in the United States, notice thereof shall be given to the Secretary of the Treasury, that the commissioners of the sinking fund may, if they please, become the purchasers, at the market price, not exceeding par.

III. The Government of the Bank.

1. The bank shall be established at Philadelphia, with power to erect branches, or to employ State banks as branches elsewhere.

2. There shall be twenty five directors for the bank at Philadelphia and thirteen directors for each of the branches, where branches are erected, with the usual description and number of officers.

3. The President of the United States, with the advice and consent of the Senate, shall annually appoint five of the directors of the bank at Philadelphia.

4. The qualified stockholders shall annually elect twenty of the directors of the bank at Philadelphia, but a portion of the directors shall be changed at every annual election, upon the principle of rotation. •

5. The directors of the bank at Philadelphia shall, annually, at their first meeting after their election, choose one of the five directors appointed by the President and Senate of the United States to be President of the bank; and the President of the bank shall always be re-eligible if re-appointed.

6. The directors of the bank at Philadelphia shall annually appoint thirteen directors for each of the branches, where branches are erected, and shall transmit a list of the persons appointed to the Secretary of the Treasury.

7. The Secretary of the Treasury, with the approbation of the President of the United States, shall annually designate, from the list of the branch directors, the person to be the President of the respective branches.

8. None but resident citizens of the United States shall be directors of the Bank or its branches.

9. The stockholders may vote for directors in person or by proxy; but no stockholder, who is not resident within the United States at the time of election, shall vote by proxy; nor shall any one person vote as proxy a greater number of votes than he would be entitled to vote in his own right, according to a scale of voting, to be graduated by the number of shares which the voters, respectively, hold.

10. The Bank, and its several branches, or the State banks employed as branches, shall furnish the officer at the head of the Treasury Department with statements of their officers, in such form, and at such period, as shall be required.

IV. The Privileges and Duties of the Bank.

1. The bank shall enjoy the usual privileges, and be subject to the usual resstrictions of a body corporate and politic, instituted for such purposes, and the forgery of its notes shall be made penal.

2. The notes of the bank shall be receivable in all payments to the United States, unless Congress shall hereafter otherwise provide by law.

3. The bank and its branches, and State banks employed as branches, shall give the necessary aid and facility to the Treasury for transfering the public funds from place to place, and for making payments to the public creditors; without charging commissions, or claiming allowances on account of differences of exchange, &c.

V. The Organization and Operation of the Bank.

1. Subscriptions to be opened with as little delay as possible, and at as few places as shall be deemed just and convenient. The commissioners may be named in the act, or appointed by the President.

2. The Bank to be organized, and commence its operations in specie as soon as the sum of 1,400,000 dollars has been actually received from the subscribers, in gold and silver.

3. The Bank shall not at any time suspend its specie payments, unless the same shall be previously authorized by Congress, if in session, or by the President of the United States, if Congress be not in session. In the latter case, the suspension shall continue for six weeks after the meeting of Congress, and no longer, unless authorized by law.

VI. The Bonus for the Charter of the Bank.

The subscribers shall pay a premium to the Government for its charter. Estimating the profits of the bank from the probable advance in the value of its stock, and the result of its business when in full operation, at seven per cent. a bonus of 1,500,000 dollars, payable in equal instalments of two, three, and four years after the bank commences its operations, might, under all circumstances, be considered as about four per cent. upon its capital, and would contribute a reasonable premium.

JANUARY 8, 1816.

Mr. CALHOUN, from the committee on that part of the President's message which relates to an uniform national currency, reported a bill" to incorporate the subscribers to the Bank of the United States;" which was read the first and second time, and committed to a committee of the whole house. The said bill is as follows:

A Bill to incorporate the Subscribers to the Bank of the United States.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That a Bank of the United States of America shall be established, with a capital of thirty-five millions of dollars, divided into three hundred and fifty thousand shares, of one hundred dollars each share; but, Congress may, at any time hereafter, augment the capital of the said bank, to a sum not exceeding fifty millions of dollars, in such manner as shall be by law provided. Seventy thousand shares, amounting to the sum of seven millions of dollars, part of the capital of the said bank, shall be subscribed, and paid for by the United States, in the manner hereinafter specified; and two hundred and eighty thousand shares, amounting to the sum of twenty-eight millions of dollars, shall be subscribed and paid for, by individuals, companies, or corporations, in the manner hereinafter specified.

SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That subscriptions for the sum of twenty eight millions of dollars, towards constituting the capital of the said bank,

shall be opened on the first Monday in June next, at the following places, that is to say: at Portsmouth, in the State of New Hampshire; at Boston, in the State of Massachusetts; at Providence, in the State of Rhode Island; at New Haven, in the State of Connecticut; at Burlington, in the State of Vermont; at New York, in the State of New York; at in the State of New Jersey; at Philadelphia, in the State of Pennsylvania; at Wilmington, in the State of Delaware; at Baltimore, in the State of Maryland; at Richmond, in the State of Virginia; at Lexington, in the State of Kentucky; at in the State of Ohio; at Raleigh, in the State of North Carolina; at Nashville, in the State of Tennessee; at Charleston, in the State of South Carolina; at Augusta, in the State of Georgia; at New Orleans, in the State of Louisiana; and at Washington. in the District of Columbia. And the said subscriptions shall be opened under the superintendence of three commissioners, to be appointed at, and for, each of the said places, by the President of the United States, (who is hereby authorized to make such appointments) and shall continue open every day, from the time of opening the same, between the hours of ten o'clock in the forenoon, and four o'clock in the afternoon, until the Saturday following, at four o'clock in the afternoon, when the same shall be closed; and immediately thereafter, the commissioners, or any two of them, at the respective places aforesaid, shall cause two transcripts or copies of such subscriptions to be made, one of which they shall send to the Secretary of the Treasury, one they shall retain, and the original they shall transmit, within seven days from the closing of the subscriptions as aforesaid, to the commissioners at Philadelphia aforesaid. And on the receipt of the said original subscriptions, or of either of the said copies thereof, if the original be lost, mislaid, or detained, the commissioners at Philadelphia aforesaid, or a majority of them, shall immediately thereafter convene, and proceed to take an account of the said subscriptions. And if more than the amount of twenty-eight millions of dollars shall have been subscribed, then the said last mentioned commissioners shall apportion the same among the several subscribers, according to their several respective subscriptions, allowing and apportioning to each subscriber, at least one share. And in case the aggregate amount of the said subscriptions shall exceed twenty-eight millions of dollars, the said last mentioned commissioners, after having apportioned the same as aforesaid, shall cause lists of the said apportioned subscriptions to be made out, including in each list the apportioned subscription for the place where the original subscription was made, one of which lists they shall transmit to the commissioners, or one of them, under whose superintendence such subscriptions were originally made, that the subscribers may thereby ascertain the number of shares to them respectively apportioned as aforesaid. And in case the aggregate amount of the said subscriptions made, during the period aforesaid, at all the places aforesaid, shall not amount to twenty-eight millions of dollars, the subscriptions to complete the said sum shall be and remain open at Philadelphia aforesaid, under the superintendence of the commissioners appointed for that place; and the subscriptions may be then made by any individual, company, or corporation, for any number of shares, not exceeding in the whole the amount required to complete the said sum of twenty-eight millions of dollars. SEC, 3. And be it further enacted, That it shall be lawful for any individual, company, or corporation, when the subscriptions shall be opened, as herein before directed, to subscribe for any number of shares of the capital of the said bank, not exceeding three thousand shares and the sums so subscribed shall be payable, and paid in the manner following, that is to say: seven millions of dollars thereof in gold or silver coin, of the United States, or in foreign gold or silver coin, at the value thereof, as heretofore established by an act, entitled "An act regulating the currency of foreign coins," passed the tenth day of April, in the year one thousand eight hundred and six; and twenty-one millions of dollars thereof in like gold or silver coin, or in the funded debt of the United States, contracted at the time of the subscriptions respectively. And the payments made in the funded debt of the United States shall be paid and received at the following rates, that is to say the funded debt,

bearing an interest of six per centum per annum, at the nominal or par value thereof; the funded debt bearing an interest of three per centum per annum, at the rate of sixty-five dollars for every sum of one hundred dollars of the nominal amount thereof; and the funded debt, bearing an interest of seven per centum per annum, at the rate of one hundred and six dollars and fifty-one cents, for every sum of one hundred dollars of the nominal amount thereof; together with the amount of the interest accrued on the said several denominations of funded debt, to be computed and allowed to the time of subscribing the same to the capital of the said bank as aforesaid. And the payments of the said subscriptions shall be made and completed by the subscribers, respectively, at the times and in the manner following, that is to say: at the time of subscribing, there shall be paid five dollars on each share, in gold or silver coin as aforesaid, and twenty-five dollars more, in coin as aforesaid, or in funded debt as aforesaid; at the expiration of six calendar months after the time of subscribing, there shall be paid the further sum of five dollars on each share, in gold or silver coin as aforesaid, and twenty-five dollars more, in coin as aforesaid, or in funded debt as aforesaid; at the expiration of twelve calendar months from the time of subscribing, there shall be paid the further sum of five dollars on each share, in gold or silver coin as aforesaid, and twentyfive dollars more, in coin as aforesaid, or in funded debt as aforesaid; and at the expiration of eighteen calendar months, there shall be paid the further sum of ten dollars in gold or silver coin as aforesaid.

SEC. 4. And be it further enacted, That, at the time of subscribing to the capital of the said bank as aforesaid, each and every subscriber shall deliver to the commissioners, at the place of subscribing, as well the amount of their subscriptions, respectively, in coin as aforesaid, as the certificates of funded debt, for the funded debt proportion of their respective subscriptions, together with a power of attorney, authorizing the said commissioners, or a majority of them, to transfer the said stock in due form of law, to "the president, dírectors and company, of the Bank of the United States of America," as soon as the said bank shall be organized. Provided, always, That if, in consequence of the apportionment of the shares in the capital of the said bank among the subscribers, in the case, and in the manner hereinbefore provided, any subscriber shall have delivered to the commissioners, at the time of subscribing, a greater amount of gold or silver coin and funded debt, than shall be necessary to complete the payments for the share or shares to such subscribers, apportioned as aforesaid, the commissioners shall only retain so much of the said gold or silver coin, and funded debt, as shall be necessary to complete such payments, and shall forthwith return the surplus thereof, on application for the same, to the subscribers lawfully entitled thereto. And the commissioners, respectively, shall deposite the gold and silver coin, and certificates of public debt, by them respectively received as aforesaid, from the subscribers to the capital of the said bank, in some place of secure and safe keeping, so that the same may, and shall be specifically delivered and transferred, as the same were by them respectively received, to the president, directors, and company of the Bank of the United States of America, or to their order, as soon as shall be required after the organization of the said bank. And the said commissioners appointed to superintend the subscriptions to the capital of the said bank as aforesaid, shall receive a reasonable compensation for their services, respectively, and shall be allowed all reasonable charges and expenses incurred in the execution of their trust, to be paid by the president, directors, and company, of the bank, out of the funds thereof.

SEC. 5. And be it further enacted, That it shall be lawful for the United States to pay, and redeem the funded debt subscribed to the capital of the said bank, at the rates aforesaid, in such sums, and at such times as shall be deemed expedient, any thing in any act or acts of Congress to the contrary thereof, notwithstanding. And it shall also be lawful for the president, directors, and company, of the said bank, to sell and transfer, for gold and silver coin or bulhion, the funded debt subscribed to the capital of the said bank as aforesaid: Provided, always, That they shall not sell more thereof than the sum of two