1842

FRANCIS THOMAS, ESQUIRE, GOVERNOR,

CHAP. 301.

Right reser-
ved.

Issues forbid.

time and elect a person or persons to fill said vacancy or
vacancies.
SEC. 5. Be it enacted, That this act may be annulled or in
any manner altered at the discretion of the legislature.
SEC. 6. And be it enacted, That nothing in this act shall
be so construed as to authorize the said corporation to issue
any scrip, token, device or other evidence of debt to be
used as a currency.

CHAPTER 301.

Massed March
10, 1843.

An act to sell the State's Interest in the Internal Improve-
ment Companies, and to pay the debts of the State.

Preamble.

WHEREAS in the present embarrassed condition of the
finances of the state, and the great depression of business
of all kinds, the public interest requires that the debt of
the state should be paid off, at the earliest possible day, that
the people may be relieved from taxation; and whereas the
present moment seems to be propitious for the sale of the
interest of the state in the several internal improvement com-
panies, whereby the state may be separated from corpora-
tions, the connection with which has involved it in the em-
barrassments under which it is now suffering — therefore,

Treasurer
to advertise in
this country,
and in Europe

SEC. 1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Ma-
ryland, That the treasurer of the western shore be and
he is hereby authorized and directed to advertise in such
papers in this country and Europe, as he may deem pro-
per, until the first day of July, for proposals from the cre-
ditors of the state and others, for the purchase of all the in-
terest which the state holds in the following corporations,
viz: in the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Company; the Bal-
timore and Ohio Rail Road Company, and the Washington
Branch Rail Road company, the Tide-Water Canal compa-
ny, and the Susquehanna Rail Road Company.

Treasurer au-
thorised to sell
the states in-
terest.

SEC. 2. And be it enacted, That on or after the day
'designated in the previous section of this act, it shall be the
duty of the said treasurer, and he is hereby authorized and
directed to sell and dispose of the whole of the interest of
the state in the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Company, to
any person or persons, and for a sum not less than five mil-
lions of dollars, payable in bonds or certificates of debts of
the state, and bearing an interest of not less than five per
cent, and upon the delivery of said bonds to him to be can-
celled, he shall execute to the purchaser or purchasers,