Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 12.djvu/1171

 POSTAL CONVENTION WITH BELGIUM, DECEMBER 21, 1859. 1119 It is understood that the whole combined rate thus established shall be Provision in reduced in proportion to the reduction which may hereafter be made in °”~"°.°f f“*“’° '°‘ either of the rates forming the whole rate, and that, if either rate is en- ducmu °f me tirely dispensed with, it shall not go toward making up any part of the total amount. Any modification of the actual established rate of one franc forty centimes in Belgium, or twenty-seven cents in the United States, must be made by mutual agreement of the two contracting parties. ARTICLE VIII. Samples of merchandise shall pay letter postage. $¤mPl¢§ of ARTICLE IX. The postage for which the United States and Belgian m‘;_;°h“"d'°°‘ . _ ostage how tc Post Offices shall reciprocally account to each other upon letters which be reciprocal1y shall be exchanged between them in closed mails, shall be established, “°°°““*°‘l· f°’· letter by letter, according to the scale of progression determined by the preceding Article VI. The Belgian office shall pay to the United States office, for each unpaid letter weighing fifteen grammes, (half an ounce,) or less, originating in the United States and destined for Belgium, as well as for each letter of like weight prepaid in Belgium and destined for the United States, the sum of twenty cents, including nfteen cents for the expenses of transportation across the Atlantic ocean. On its side, the United States office shall pay to the Belgian office for each unpaid letter weighing half an ounce or less, originating in Belgium and destined for the United States, as well as for each letter of like weight prepaid in the United States and destined for Belgium, the sum of seven cents, including four cents for the expenses of transportation over the British territory and across the British channel. It is understood that the postage for which the two offices, American and Belgian, shall account to each other, shall always be the exact representation of what shall be really paid. 1. The United States and Belgian inland. 2. The sea postage. 3. The British transit postage and postage across the British channel. ARTICLE X. Letters originating in countries beyond the United States, Forsignlettm. destined for Belgium, as well as letters originating in countries availing themselves of the Belgian route, other than in closed mails, and destined for the United States, shall be respectively stamped with the uniform charge stipulated in Article VII. of the present convention, and to which the amount of the foreign charges must be added. Three months after the exchange of the ratiiications of the present Limwbc convention, the two Post Offices shall furnish to each other, reciprocally, furnished. lists of the foreign countries for which the prepayment of letters shall be obligatory, or optional, either to their destination or to a determinate point. But until such lists shall be furnished, neither of the two Post Departments shall despatch to the other letters originating in or destined for countries situated beyond their respective territories. ARTICLE XI. It is understood that the letters mentioned in the pre- Sams subject. ceding Article X. can be delivered on either side, only by the piece, upon the reimbursement by credit or payment of the allotted part of the international and foreign postage belonging to each office with which such letters are charged. ARTICLE XII. The United States offices of exchange, in charging the gm], gf postage due to the Post Office of Belgium, shall uniformly make use of Weightiweights having the American ounce for unit, with its division into halfounces; and the Belgian offices of exchange, in charging the postage due to the United States, shall uniformly make use of weights having the decimal gramme for unit, (thirty grammes being considered equal to one ounce American.) ARTICLE XIII. Newspapers, gazettes, periodical works, books stitched Newspapers, or bound, pamphlets, papers of music, catalogues, prospectuses, advertise- pamphlets, Src. ments and notices of various kinds printed, engraved, lithographed or autographed, which shall be sent either from Belgium to the United States