eral of the commonwealth, who is hereby authorized and required to settle and adjust the same in like manner as other accounts are settled by him, and subject to the like appeal, security, trial, and costs; and in like manner to proceed to recover the balance or balances which shall be found due from the said wardens, or any of them; and no compensation shall be received by the said wardens. for the performance of the duties enjoined on them by this act.

SEC. 5. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That this act shall be in force at the expiration of one calendar month after the consent of the Congress of the United States shall be granted to the operation thereof, and notice of such consent published in one or more newspapers in the city of Philadelphia, and shall continue in force for seven years; and from thence to the end of the next general assembly, and no longer.

Passed 1st April, 1805. Recorded in book No. 10, page 153.

AN ACT to incorporate a company entitled the Roanoke Inlet Company, and for other purposes.

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of North Carolina, and it is hereby enacted by the authority of the same, That Josiah Collins, Enoch Sawyer, E. A. Rhodes, Thomas Turner, Samuel Hyman, Wells Cooper, Wm. B. Lockhart, James Morgan, Andrew Joyner, Wm. Eaton, Peter R. Davis, Joseph H. Bryan, Wm. McKissack, James Holden, Beverly Daniel, John M. Roberts, Richard Grist, Peter P. Lawrence, and Jeremiah Wynn, be, and they are hereby, appointed commissioners for receiving subscriptions to the amount of $200,000, for the purpose of opening an inlet at the lower end of Albemarle sound, near a place called Nag's Head, and improving the navigation of said sound with its branches; and the said commissioners, or any five of them, shall prepare books and cause the same to be opened at such places, and under the direction of such persons as they may appoint; and the said books shall be opened on or before the first day of May next, and shall continue open until the first day of August next, should the said sum of $200,000 not be subscribed for sooner; but, in that event, the books shall remain open at least thirty days. When the subscriptions shall have been filled as before provided, the said books shall be returned to the said commissioners, at the town of Edenton, when or before, as they may deem most advisable, they shall advertise a general meeting of the subscribers, (by giving at least twenty days notice,) to be held in the said town of Edenton, either personal or by proxy; and such meeting may, if necessary, continue from day to day, until the business thereof shall be finished; and if it shall appear that $150,000 shall have been subscribed, including the sum subscribed by the State, the said subscribers, their heirs and assigns, from the time of the said first meeting, shall be, and they are hereby, declared to be incorporated into a company by and under the name of "The Roanoke Inlet Company," and may sue and be sued as such, plead and be impleaded, defend and

be defended, have perpetual succession and a common seal; and such of the subscribers or their proxies as may be present at the said meeting, or a majority of them, are hereby empowered and directed to elect a president and four directors, for the purpose of conducting and managing all the concerns of the said company for and during the term of one year, and thence until the next general meeting of the stockholders; and in counting the votes of each and every general meeting of said stockholders, each member shall be allowed one vote for every share as far as three shares, and one vote for every three shares as far as thirty shares, then one for every five shares above thirty shares by him or her held at the time of the general meeting; and every proprietor, by writing under his or her hand, executed before one subscribing witness, and acknowledged or proved before a justice of the peace, may depute any member to act as a proxy for him or her at any general meeting, and the presence and acts of such proxy shall be as effectual to all intents and purposes as the presence and acts of his or her principal could be.

SEC. 2. Be it further enacted, That if, one hundred and fifty thousand dollars shall not have been subscribed at or before the said general meeting of the stockholders, the said commissioners shall be at liberty again to open books for receiving further subscriptions, and shall give notice thereof in two newspapers printed in this State; and when the said sum of $150,000 shall have been subscribed, the stockholders, in general meeting, may proceed to elect a president and directors of the said company as aforesaid; and if more than $200,000 shall be subscribed, the said commissioners may, if they think proper, reduce such subscriptions according to a scale to be by them established for the purpose.

SEC. 3. And be it further enacted, That the capital sum aforesaid shall be divided into shares of $100 each; any person may subscribe for one or more shares, but not [for] part of a share. The capital sum aforesaid may be enlarged from time to time, at the discretion of the stockholders or a majority of them or their proxies, in general meeting assembled. Should the said capital sum be insufficient to complete the navigation aforesaid, the president and directors may open books from time to time to receive subscriptions to increase the capital stock of said company; and whereas shares may be sold by the president and directors for balances due thereon: Be it further enacted, That the books of the said company shall be good evidence of such sale and of the purchase of said shares.

4. Be it further enacted, That the shares shall be paid for at such time and places, and by such instalments, as the president and directors of said company shall direct; they first advertising the same in at least two newspapers, printed within this State, thirty days before the time when payment is required; and if any person or persons, holding any share or shares of the said capital stock, shall fail to pay for the same in the manner and at the time prescribed, the president and directors may proceed to enforce said

payments by legal process, or declare the same to be forfeited, as they may think proper.

5. Be it further enacted, That the first general meeting of said company shall be in the town of Edenton, and thereafter at the place the stockholders, in general meeting, shall order or direct.

6. Be it further enacted, That the said president and directors shall have full power and authority to levy and collect a toll of twenty cents per ton on each and every vessel, passing in or out of the said inlet, from the owner or owners, commander or commanders thereof, in such manner or way as the president and directors shall prefer.

7. Be it further enacted, That any master, commander, owner or owners of said vessel, which shall have passed in at said inlet, or those which shall have cleared out at the custom house, or, if coasters, those which appear ready for sailing shall not have paid, and, on demand, neglect or refuse to pay to the person, authorised to receive the same, the said twenty cents for each and every ton the said vessel shall measure, agreeably to the federal tonnage of the United States, then the said captain, commander, owner or owners, with the said vessel, her tackle and apparel, shall be liable to forfeit and pay to the said company, or to their agent, forty cents for each and every ton the said vessel shall measure; which said double tax shall be recoverable as other debts of the same amount are in this State, and, by and with the consent of Congress, shall be recoverable before any federal court within the United States, or within the territories thereof, and the evidence of said debt shall be an account stated, signed and proved, before a notary public, by the collector of said toll.

8. Be it further enacted, That it shall and may be lawful for the president and directors, or a majority of them, to agree with the owners of any lands, which they shall deem necessary for making embankments and lots, whereon houses are required to be built for the use of the persons and teams employed by said president and directors for the purchase thereof; and in case of disagreement, or in case the owner thereof should be a feme covert, under age, non compos, or out of the State, on application to any two justices of the peace of the county in which the land shall be, the said justices shall issue their warrant, under their hands, to the sheriff of the county to summon a jury of twelve men of his county, who shall be freeholders therein, not related to either party, nor in any manner interested, to meet on the land to be valued on a day to be expressed in the warrant, not more than twenty days thereafter; and the sheriff, on receiving the said warrant, shall forthwith summon the said jury, and, when met, the sheriff shall administer an oath or affirmation to each one of the said jury men that he will fairly, justly and impartially value the said land necessary for the use of the said company, and all damages the owner or owners thereof shall sustain, according to the best of his skill and judgment; and that, in such valuation, he shall not spare any person through affection, nor any person grieved through malice, hatred or ill will; and

the inquisition thereon taken shall be signed by the sheriff and the said twelve jurors, and returned by the sheriff to the office of the clerk of the county court of his county, to be by him recorded; and on every such valuation the jury are hereby directed to describe and ascertain the bounds of the lands by them valued, and their valuation shall be conclusive on all persons; which shall be paid by the said president or directors to the owner of the land, or to his or her legal representative; and, on payment thereof, the said company shall be seized in fee of such lands, as if conveyed by the owners to them and their successors by legal conveyance.

9. Be it further enacted, That the said president and directors or their agents shall be, and they are hereby authorised, to raise embankments across the Croatan and Roanoke sounds, at such places as they may think most advisable, for the purpose of turning the water througo the contemplated inlet; and, further, to raise an embankment across the Currituck sound, should they deem it necessary in opening or keeping open said inlet.

10. Be it further enacted, That if the said navigation shall not have been improved or completed, as contemplated by the provisions of this act, within ten years from and after the passage thereof, all exclusive privileges granted to the said incorporated company shall cease and determine on the expiration of the said term of ten years.

11. Be it further enacted, That it shall not be lawful for the president and directors, or their agents, to entirely stop the navigation through the Croatan sound, until the contemplated inlet shall be of sufficient width and depth to admit vessels drawing the same water as is now on the swash near Ocracock inlet; but there shall be a space of at least forty feet left open in the embankment across said sound, at a place where the water is at least ten feet deep, which shall be continued open until the channel through the said contemplated inlet shall be of the width and depth aforesaid. 12. Be it further enacted, That this act shall go into operaration when (and not before) the Congress of the United States shall confirm or assent thereto; and that the governor of this State be, and he is hereby, directed to forward to the Congress now in session a copy of this act, with instructions to our Senators and Representatives therein assembled, to endeavor to procure the consent of the said Congress to all the foregoing clauses contained in this act; and that the said governor further instruct our Senators and Representatives to solicit the aid of the general government to effect the objects of this act.

Passed by the general assembly of North Carolina, at their session, begun 3d Monday of November, 1821.

AN ACT to amend an act, passed in the year 1821, entitled "An act to incorporate a com pany, entitled The Roanoke Inlet Company,," &c.

Be it enacted, &c., That the commissioners already appointed by the aforesaid act, together with Wm. Martin,

[Here follows a number of names.]

be, and

they are hereby, appointed commissioners for the purposes mentioned in the before recited act; and that said commissioners shall open books for the purpose of receiving subscriptions, on or before the first day of May next, and shall continue them open until the first day of November next; and when the sum mentioned in the before recited act shall have been subscribed, the subscribers shall be incorporated into a company by and under the name of the "Roanoke Inlet Company," and shall have all the powers, privileges, and immunities, and shall be governed by the same rules, regulations, and restrictions as are prescribed by the before recited

act.

2. Be it further enacted, That if the said navigation shall not have been improved or completed, as contemplated by the provisions of the before recited act, within ten years from and after the passage of this act, all exclusive privileges granted to the said incorporated company shall cease and determine on the expiration of the said term of ten years.

3. Be it further enacted, That this act shall go into operation when and not before the Congress of the United States shall confirm or assent thereunto, and that the governor of this State be, and he is hereby, directed to forward to the Congress now in session a copy of this act, and likewise a copy of the act of 1821, with instructions to our Senators and Representatives therein assembled, to endeavor to procure the consent of the said Congress to all the clauses contained in this act and in the before mentioned act; and that the said governor further instruct our Senators and Representatives to solicit the aid of the general government to effect the objects of the before recited act.

4. Be it further enacted, That this act shall be in force from and immediately after its ratification.

Passed at general assembly of North Carolina, begun and held 3d Monday of November, 1828.

1804.

AN ACT to authorize the city council of Charleston, with the consent of Congress, to impose and levy a duty on the tonnage of ships and vessels, for the purposes therein mentioned.

Whereas the city council of Charleston, by their memorial to the legislature of this State, have, amongst other things, set forth. that a proposition, authorised by the President of the United States, has been made to the city council to pay over to them the sum of fifteen thousand dollars for building a marine hospital in the vicinity of Charleston; and likewise to pay over to them all the hospital moneys to be collected in the said port, on their taking upon themselves the direction of the said hospital and defraying all expenses attending the same; which sums the said city council state to be altogether inadequate for the building