The Holly chieftain., 1916-06-02
STOP SEEING MAIL
U. Q. NOTIFIES BRITAIN AND
FRANCE IN VIGOROUS NOTE.
"lawiess Practice" on SEES mo
Longer Can De Tolerated." and
Allies Are Warned to Change
Policy.

Policy.
Western Newspaper Union News Service.
Washington. May 2s-The text of
British and French ambassadors. 20
part follows:
Department of State. Washington.
May ~. Is16.-Exceliency: / have the
honor to acknowledge receipt Of your
excellency's note of April 8 last. trans
hitting memorandum dated February
stance to the American ambassador in
London on February 2Sth, In which are
stated the contentious OF the British
the right to detain and examine par
| eel and letter malls en- route by sea
| rope.
After a discussion of the use of the
| mails for the transmission of parcels
and of the limitations to be placed on
.inyiolable.' the joint memorandum of
February Is closes with the following
Il. That from the standpoint of the
| right of visitation and eventual arrest
and seizure, merchandise shipped In
post parcels needs not and shall not be
| treated otherwise than merchandise
shipped in any other manner.
g. That the inviolability of postal
correspondence stipulated by the elev-
does not in any way affect the right Of
| the allied governments to visit and. If
occasion arise. arrest and seize mer
| chandise hidden in the wrappers, on
velopes or letters contained in the mall
bags. r,,.. .,. .s.,r ~ an.
ence' the allied governments will re-
| frain for the present, on the high seas,
| from SELLING and confiscating such cor
respondence, letters or dispatches and
| will insure their speediest possible
| transmission, as soon as the sincerity
of their character shall have been as
| certained."
Allies Contention Rejected.
I'm reply the government of the
United States desires to state that 1t
convention of 1906 necessarily applies
| to the interference by the British and
French governments with the oversee
transportation Of mails Of which the
| government of the United States COM
| plains.
Furthermore. the allied powers APP
pear to have overlooked the ADMISSION
of the government of the United States
| that post parcels may be treated as
merchandise subject to the exercise of
belligerent rights as recognized by In
| ternational law. But the government
of the United States does not admit
that such parcels are subject to the
exercise Of the rights Of police super
which belongs to beiiigerents with ref-
erence to all cargoes on the high seas.
as asserted in the joint note under &C
acknowledgement.
Right Of Search Limited.
ut is noted with satisfaction that the
| British and French governments do not
claim, and, in the opinion Of this gov
ernment. properly do not claim, that
their so-called blockade measures are
up9n which to base
mail matter in transit to or from the
ION the contrary, their contention
spondence is under conventional stipu-
lation inviOlable, mail matter of other
classes is subject to detention and ex-
the United States agrees that genuine
correspondence mail Is inviolable. 1t
does not admit that belligerents may
for any other purpose than to discover
whether they contain articles Of enemy
ownership carried on belligerent yes-
sells or articles Of contraband trans.
mail. though they may intercept at sea
all mails coming out of or going into
ports of the enemy's coasts which are
effectively blockaded.
Malls seised In Pert.
1.-THE governments of the United
ever. appear to be in substantial agree
ment as to principle. The method of
applying the principle is the chief
Though giving assurances that they
consider genuine correspondence to be
inviolab ble,' and that they will. true to
their engagements.' refrain 'on the
high seas from seizing and confiscat-.
ing such correspondence, the allied
governments proceed to deprive neU.
these assurances by sefxlng- and con-.
fiscating mall from vessels in port In
stead Of at sea. !
They compel neutral ships without
they induce shipping lines. through
some form of duress, to send their mall
ships via British ports. or they detain
all vessels merely calling at British
ports-thus acquiring by force or un-
justifiable means an Illegal jurisdic-
tion.
Censorship Assailed.
Acting upon this enforced jurisdic.
tion. the authorities remove all mail,
genuine correspondents as well as
post parcels; take them to- London.
where every piece, even though of neu-
tral origin and destination, is opened
the sincerity Of their character in
accordance with the Interpretation Civ.
en- that underlined phrase by the Brit
ish and French censors. Finally, the
expurgated remains is forwarded. fire.
destination.
"ships are detained en- route to or
from the United States or to OF from
other neutral countries, and mails are
IN some cases, for weeks. and even
months. even though not routed to
ports Of North Europe. via British
ports.