The weekly Ottumwa courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1857-1872, 1863-08-13
THE INTERNATIONAL POS.
TAGE CONVENTION.
General Principles and Regu.
lali0ns Agreed Upon.

The delegates Of the Postal Administra.
tons Of Austria, Belgium, Costa RIGA, Den.
mark, Spain, the United States, France,
Great Britain, Italy, the Netherlands, Por-
tugal, Prussia, the Hawiian Islands, Switz
erland, and Hauscaitic Cities, in pursuance
of the deliberations held at the General
Post Office in Paris. from 18th May to the
9th June, 1858, have adapted the following
general principles as being ad dopted to IA
cilitate postal relations between nations, and
to form the basis Of International Conven-
tons for the regulation of these rela-
tons;
I. The articles which must or may be
forwarded by the post from one country to
another are divided into six classes
| 1. Ordinary letters.
Q. Registered letters, without declaration
of value.
8. Registered letters containing declared
value.
4. Corrected proof sheets, business papers
and other written documents not of the ma
ture Of letters.
4. Samples of merchandise (includirg
grains and seeds) oflimit weight and without
mercantile value.
6. Printed matter Of all kinds in sheets,
stitched or bound, sheets of music, engra-
wings, Autographs, photographs, drawings,
maps and plans.
III. Whenever 1t is possible, the prepay
mcnt of postage upon ordinary letters should
best the option Of The sender but in case
OF such optional prepayment, unpaid letters
must be a moderate additional charge.
TIT. Letters insufficiently prepaid by the
postal as unpaid. deducting, however, the
value of the stamps affixed.
| Nv. Registered letters, whether with OF
without declaration of value. must in all
cases be prepaid to destination.
i V. All articles under bands, in order to
take the benefit Of a rate of postage less than
that applicable to letters, must be pre-
paid.
i vi. international! corresp ondence of al!
kinds. duly PREPAID to destination, shall no,
be charged with any additional rate whatev.
err on delivery.
VII. The rates upon international cor
respondence shall be established according
TO the same scale sof weight in all coun.
| tries.
4 a
II VIII. Thcfmetricai decimal system, be.
ing that which best satisfies the demands O
Of the postal service, shall be adopted fol
international postal relations. to the exclu-
! sions of every other system.
TX. The single rate upon international
letters shall be applied to each stand ard
weight of Is grammes or fractional part o
it.
x. The single rates upon correct proof.
sheets, upon written documents not of thu
nature Of letters, and upon samp es of mer
chandise Gncluding seeds,) shall he applied
to each standard weight Of 40 grammes or
fractional parts thereof, to ono ad-
dress.
XII. The standard weight for the. sing Il
rate upon articles under band embraced r
| the sixth class of he first resolutions afore
said must be established by specia
, convention on between the. contracting par
, ties.
f XII. The rate upon letters must be fxef
, according to the weight stated by the dis.
patching Office, except in case Of NANTES
error
, XIII Registered letters without declare
ton Of value, shall be rated with moderate
T fixed charge in addition to the rate applica
BILE to ordinary letters of the sam,
weight.
> XIV. Registered letters containing declar
I ed value shall be rated with charge il
proportion to the amour! of the declared
value, in addition to the postage and to thei
fxed charge applicable to the other class
> of registered letters.
XIV. In case of loss of registered lette
, without declared value, and in case of los,
or spoliation of a registered letter with de
j clared value, each Office will be held re
and in the service for which it has received
premium of insurance Fifty francs shoult
! be allowed to the sender OF an unvaluet
registered lost !; and for valued registered
! letter, so much of the declared value a
. shall have been lost or abstract
ed.
XVII. When there are different mai
correspondence once shall be dis
patched by the route indicated DO that up
on the address or by the rate of postage pre-
paid where present rates exist. in the ab
sence Of such indication the dispatchin
u Office will determine the route which il
deems most advantageous to tie public int
rest.
!, XVIII. Unpaid letters, delivered by on
: Administrator to another,to country 70
which prepayment is counted. shall be re
turned to the dispatching Office, as wrongly
!. sent.
< XIX. Articles under hand, and subject t
= lower postage, with compulsory prepay
= ment, shall, in case of insufficient prepay
ment, be dispatched to their destination
with suitable extra rate. Ifsuch articles ar
wholly unpaid they shall not be dispatch
ed.
Xxx. international postal accounts canno