Sending false dispatches; violating dispatches, &c. 444. The following, when affecting the international telegraphic service, are public offenses: 1. Willfully originating, and tendering, or causing to be sent, false messages; 2. Unlawfully hindering or delaying, by any act or omission, the transmission or delivery of a dispatch; and, 3. Violating the secrecy of a dispatch, except disclosing illegal dispatches, in the cases and to the extent necessary in the enforcement of article 442, and knowingly republishing, without authority, any dispatch the secrecy of which has been so violated. This Article is intended to protect against wrongs which have not been adequately provided for. Regulations. 445. Each nation shall make regulations to assure secrecy, accuracy, and rapidity in the transmission of dispatches, and communicate the same to each of the other nations, but is not otherwise responsible for the telegraphic service. Convention of Vienna, 1868, Arts. II., III., adding “accuracy," and also adding the clause requiring communication of the regulations. TITLE XVI. POSTAL SERVICE. CHAPTER XXXVI. Correspondence. CHAPTER XXXVI. CORRESPONDENCE. ARTICLE 446. Exchange of correspondence. 448. Arrangements for dispatch of mails. 452. Weight for single rate of postage. 453. Rate of ocean postage. 454. Prepayment required. 455. Insufficient prepayment. 456. Registered correspondence. 457. Registration fee. 458. Basis for settlement of accounts. 459. Dangerous substances. 460. Regulations for dispatch of correspondence. 461. Transit of closed mails through each nation. 463. Official correspondence free. 464. Missent letters, &c. 465. Mail matter not to be detained. 466. Letters with contraband goods. 468. Matters of detail. Exchange of correspondence. 446. There shall be an exchange of correspondence between the nations, by their respective post departments; which may include correspondence originating in or destined for any country whatever to which any of the nations serve as intermediaries. of The post department of each nation shall notify that other nation of the countries to which it serves as intermediary. every See the postal conventions cited under the next Article. Classes of correspondence. 447. Subject to the provisions of this Chapter, such correspondence may include any matter of the following classes: 1. Letters, ordinary and registered; 2. Newspapers; book-packets; prints of all kinds, comprising maps, plans, engravings, drawings, photographs, lithographs, and all other like productions of mechanical processes; sheets of music; patterns or samples of merchandise, including grains and seeds, not having a commercial value. Postal convention between the United States and Belgium, North German Aug. 21, 1867, Art. I., 16 U. S. Stat. at L., (Tr.,) 145. Great Britain, Nov. 7 and 24, 1868, Art. I., 16 U. S. Stat. at L., (Tr.,) 75. An exchange of "letters, newspapers, and printed papers of all kinds,” is provided for by the postal convention between Great Britain and France, Sept. 24, 1856, Art. I., (11;) 7 De Clercq. 152. Acc'ts and Papers, 1857, vol. XVIII., Acc'ts and Papers, 1858, vol. LX., (28.) Id., 1858, vol. LX., (28.) Portugal, Apr. 6,1859, I., Id., 1859, vol. XXXII., (18.) An exchange of letters, patterns of goods, newspapers, courses of exchange, prices current, and other printed papers," is allowed by the postal convention between Great Britain and Belgium, Oct. 19, 1844, Art. I., Accounts and Papers, 1845, vol. LII. The following list of articles suffices to show the character and extent of mail matter, as allowed by numerous treaties: Ordinary and registered letters; documents of business, and other written documents which have not the character of a direct personal cor respondence; commercial and legal documents; corrected proofs; newspapers; gazettes; periodical works; stitched or bound books; pamphlets; sheets of music; catalogues; prospectuses; advertisements; announcements; and other notices of various kinds, whether printed, engraved or lithographed; patterns or samples of merchandise, including grains and seeds not having a mercantile value in themselves; courses of exchange; prices current; printed papers of every kind; lithographs; prints; drawings; maps; plans; music; engravings; photographs, and all other like productions of mechanical processes. Arrangements for dispatch of mails. 448. The post department of each nation shall, at its own expense, cause its mails to be dispatched to the post department of each other nation; and, if by sea, by well-appointed ships,' performing regular service between the ports of the nations. Postal convention between the United States and Great Britain, North German Nov. 7, 24, 1868, Art. II., 16 U. S. Stat. at L.,(Tr.) 75. Union, }0 Italy, Oct. See, also, postal convention between the United States and Venezuela, July, 1865, June, 1866, Art. IV.,16 U. S. Stat. at L., (Tr.,)312. 1 The postal convention between Great Britain and France, Sept. 24, 1856. Art. II., (Accounts and Papers, 1857, vol. XVIII., (11;) 7 De Clercq, 152,) provides that the service shall be by packets which either government may think it right to maintain, to freight, or to subsidize, for the conveyance of correspondence, and by merchant ships plying between the ports of the two nations. The postal convention between Great Britain and Belgium, Oct. 19, 1844, Art. XII., (Accounts and Papers, 1845, vol. LII.,) provides that if there be no government vessels specially appointed for the direct conveyance of correspondence, the exchange of mails shall take place by means of private steam packets plying between the ports of exchange. The postal convention between Great Britain and Portugal, April 6, 1859, Art. II., (Accounts and Papers, 1859, vol. XXXII., (18,)) provides that the mails exchanged by private ships shall comprise only such correspondence as the senders "shall expressly desire to be forwarded by these means, and in this case the intention of the said senders must be expressed in writing on the address." The postal conventions between Great Britain and France, Sept. 24, 1856, Art. IV, (Accounts and Papers, 1857, vol. XVIII., (11 ;) 7 De Clercq, 152, and Belgium, Oct. 19, 1844, Art. VII., (Accounts and Papers, 1845, vol. LII., provide, in effect, that ships employed in regular service are entitled to the same privileges and exemptions, whether at sea, or within the territory of any other nation, as armed public ships; except that private ships are subject to the same dues of tonnage and navigation, and port dues, and the same regulations of commerce, as if they were not so employed. Free entry and departure of mail ships. 449. Subject to the sanitary, police, and customs regulations of the port, mail ships may enter and leave the ports which they serve, at any hour of the day or night, and may leave and take mails in the roads or at the entrance of the harbors, without anchoring, or otherwise. Postal convention between Great Britain and France, Sept. 24, 1856, Arts. VI., VII., Accounts and Papers, 1857, vol. XVIII., (11 ;)7 De Clercq, 152. Forwarding mails in case of deviation. 450. If a mail ship is compelled to enter a port other than one which it serves, its mail shall, on the request of the master, or consul of the ship's nation, be freely and expeditiously forwarded by the post department of the nation, by the usual routes, to its destination. Postal convention between Great Britain and France, Sept. 24, 1856, Art. VIII., VIII., (11;) 7 De Clercq, 152. Private mails forbidden. LII. 451. Sending or carrying mail matter for hire from one nation to another, except for the post department of a nation, is a public offense, unless payment of postage is first made; and the government of any nation may require mail matter carried either gratuitously or for hire to be surrendered to its post department. In order to secure the postage on the whole correspondence from one country to another, when that is desirable, governments have to prevent the transmission of the correspondence through any other channel than their respective offices. The postal convention between Great Britain and France, Sept. 24, 1856, Art. XXXV., (Accounts and Papers, 1857, vol. XVIII., (11 ;) 7 De Clercq, 152,) and Belgium, Oct. 19, 1844, Art. XL., (Accounts and Papers, 1845, vol. |