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COPY.
63/4944 (M.I.9)
18th June, 1916.
231
sir,
I am commanded by the Army Council to acquaint you,
for the information of the Secretary of State for Foreign
Affairs, that they have had under consideration the
American note dated the 24th May, 1916, on the subject
of the detention and examination of letter mails en route
by sea between the United States and Europe.
The Council observe that, if they have understood the
somewhat obscure language of the note, the United States
Government admit the right of His Majesty's Government:
(a) to intercept and detain genuine correspondence
shipping documents etc, relating to goods liable to
seizure, if carried by the same ship as the property to
which they relate.
(b) to search mails, other than genuine correspond-
ence not covered by (a), in order to discover whether
they contain articles liable to seizure.
(c) to treat as merchandize securities and negotiable
instruments passing as the equivalent of money.
dm
As it is possible, without opening a letter or other
postal packet, to ascertain to what, if any, shipment it
relates or whether it contains a document of the kind
specified under (c), the present practice of examining all
postal packets carried by neutral ships appears to require
no modification even from the point of view of the United
States Government.
With regard to the question of detaining the contents
The Under Secretary of State,
Foreign Office.
of/
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