CAB38-23 — Page 41

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2. On the same day as that on which the second Order was made, one of the Dover boats, the "Despatch," was seized by a privateer while lying in Ostend Roads and carried into Dunkirk, where, in spite of remonstrances, she was condemned as a prize. This event seems to have led to a discontinuance of the service from. Dover.

Subsequently letters for the Continent were sent to Holland, until that country was overrun and seized by the French. The mails were then sent to Hamburg, but in the autumn of 1806 that port was also closed by the French and for a time the mails were then sent to Holstein. After the quarrel with Denmark no Continental port (except of course the Portuguese ports) was open to us, and a regular service was established to Heligoland, whence the mails were smuggled to Hamburg and other Continental ports as opportunity arose. This smuggling seems to have been carried on to a large extent, for we have information that one banker in Altona received and sent on sometimes as many as 200 letters a week and he knew of none which had miscarried or been opened. Most of these letters of course were not for France, but some French letters were included.

3. Clause II of Napoleon's Berlin Decree, 1806, contained the following provisions:-

"All commerce and all correspondence with the British Isles is forbidden; in consequence, all letters or packets addressed to England, or to an Englishman, or written in the English language, shall not be transmitted by the Post Office, but shall be seized."

4. During the Crimean War the Post Office appears to have continued to forward its Russian mails to France and Prussia in the ordinary course.

5. It may be added that the Postmaster of Hong Kong, who, on the direction of the Governor, stopped letters addressed to the Russian Fleet in China and the agents of the Russian Government, was told that he exceeded his duty.

6. In the South African War the Cape Post Office gave notice of suspension of postal communication with the belligerent territories. Transit letters to German South-West Africa and Lourenço Marques were censored, although the German and Portuguese Embassies protested.

PRINTED AT THE FOREIGN OFFICE BY C. E. HARRISON.—

—20/2/1918.

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