Mr. Secretary of State: We have the honor to
inclose a circular note which the Swiss Federal Council has just
addressed to the Governments of the states represented in Switzerland by
diplomatic or consular officers concerning the reciprocal prepayment of
the correspondence exchanged between these Governments and their
representatives.
[Inclosure.—Translation.]
The Swiss Federal
Council to Mr. Bayard.
Mr. Minister: The Universal Postal Congress
of Paris (1878), and that of Lisbon (1885), were occupied with the
question of ascertaining whether it would not be proper to render
obligatory the prepayment of correspondence dispatched by the
authorities of the different countries and especially by the
diplomatic and consular agents residing abroad.
[Page 1538]
The congresses of Berne, Paris, and Lisbon having always defeated by
a large majority the motions offered to prescribe the obligatory
prepayment of all correspondence, it is natural that these
congresses should have been unable to stipulate this obligation for
only a part of this correspondence, namely, that dispatched by the
authorities or the diplomatic and consular agents.
But the congresses of Paris and Lisbon recognized none the less the
great inconveniences resulting from the non-prepayment of the
correspondence in question, especially of that dispatched by
diplomatic or consular agents residing abroad. Therefore, in full
session of May 28, 1878, the Universal Postal Congress of Paris,
after an excited and thorough debate, resolved as follows: “It is
the spirit of the treaty which has given birth to the Universal
Postal Union, and should be regarded as a result of that treaty,
that prepayment should be made as general as possible, especially by
the agents of the Governments.”
It appears from the debates of the postal congress held about seven
years later (in 1885, at Lisbon), that attention has not been paid
everywhere to this very well founded desire.
In fact, according to the report of the first committee of the latter
congress on the revision of the main convention, session of February
14, a delegation made the following observation:
“The provision which forbids free postage, except that of the
post-office departments, is not generally observed. There are, then,
Governments which do not require their agents abroad to prepay their
correspondence, and it may be imagined the postage is not paid on
its arrival; were this the case, the matter would be of no
importance from the stand-point of the treasury of the country.
“It is, in fact, granting free postage to the injury of the
post-office department of the country of origin, which, moreover,
has to pay the transit cost of the correspondence forwarded.”
After the debate which this observation brought on, and in which the
fact alleged was not denied, the committee agreed to abide by the
desire expressed by the Paris congress.
The difficulty that certain diplomatic or consular agents residing
abroad do not prepay the correspondence dispatched by them to their
Governments exists none the less at the present moment either as a
course pursued originally or by way of reprisal.
The Swiss Federal Council is of opinion that it would be well in the
interest of all the Governments to put an end to this condition of
things, which is so far from conforming with the spirit of the
Union. To do this it would be sufficient for the Governments to bind
themselves reciprocally to order their diplomatic and consular
agents residing abroad always to wholly prepay the correspondence
they may address at hem. In this way a condition of affairs
perfectly regular and equitable would be assured without injury to
the interests of any of the countries, as there would be reciprocity
everywhere.
We have the honor to propose to your excellency that an engagement in
the sense above mentioned may be mutually entered into by our two
countries, an engagement for which a simple declaration would
suffice, in our opinion.
Expecting your kind reply, we avail ourselves of this occasion,
etc.
In the name of the Swiss Federal Council.
- Schenk,
The President of the
Confederation. - Ringier,
The Chancellor of the
Confederacy.
