I stated in my report to Your Excellency that my reply above referred to was founded upon the Law Officers, upon which it was based that Your Excellency's letter of the 24th of December last intended to convey the assumption that the "Lige" was not engaged in the conveyance of correspondence, but in the carriage of baggage only; and upon that assumption it was not considered by Her Majesty's Government that the "Tige" was employed in execution of Articles I and II of Convention 7 & 537 so as to be within the scope of Article T of that Convention.
Her Majesty's Government did not however intend it to be understood that they considered the Postal Convention of 1856 to apply only to vessels engaged exclusively in carrying correspondence as they hold that vessels chartered or subsidized by either the English or French Governments as Packets, will be within the scope of the Convention, provided they are actually conveying correspondence, notwithstanding Articles 40 that they may also be conveying baggage.