not only expressly disclaims for itself but guarantees to protect the citizens from?

Doubtless a method will be found of adjusting the difficulties which might arise from an attempt to enforce this provision, but it serves to illustrate the wide variance in the theories of criminal jurisdiction and the necessity of a clear understanding of all phases in preserving the delicate poise of international relations. Certainly, in the light of recent events, these provisions of the new Japanese penal code deserve the careful consideration of our statesmen and diplomats, and scarcely less that of all thoughtful citizens.

POSTAL AGREEMENT WITH GREAT BRITAIN

On August 21, 1908, the following very interesting and important order (No. 1667) was issued by Postmaster-General Meyer:

The Postal Administration of Great Britain having concurred therein:

It is hereby ordered, that commencing on the 1st day of October, 1908, the postage rate applicable to letters mailed in the United States, addressed for delivery at any place in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, shall be two (2) cents an ounce or fraction of an ounce.

Letters unpaid or short paid shall be dispatched to destination, but double the deficient postage, calculated at said rate, shall be collectible of the addressees upon the delivery of the unpaid or short-paid letters.

The importance of the regulation lies in the fact that for the first time. in our history Great Britain and the United States are treated for purposes of postage as one and the same country. From the 1st day of October, 1908, the rate of postage to Great Britain will thus be the same as to any point within the United States, thus abolishing for the letter writer the artificial and political distinction existing between the two great English-speaking communities.

Steam, electricity, and the telegraph have brought the nations of the earth together, and the rapid communication of ideas tends to maintain good relations by giving an opportunity to clear up or avoid misunderstanding. If industry and commerce draw nations closer together and make for peace by creating a bond strained to the breaking point by war, and if it be true, as Mr. Gladstone says, that "ships that travel between this land and that are like the shuttle of the loom, that is weaving a web of concord between the nations," it follows that any governmental regulation reducing postage encourages the exchange of

letters and must therefore be considered in the interest of international fellowship and peace.

It is common knowledge that the modern postal system is due to the reforms of Sir Roland Hill. The following incident, however, which led to the reform may not be so generally known. As related by Amasa Walker and Mr. Burritt, it appears that Mr. Hill was at the London post-office when a poor woman inquired for a letter. One was given to her by the clerk, and being informed that there were two or three shil lings due for postage, as postage was not ordinarily prepaid, she returned it, saying that she had not the money. As she was turning to leave the office, Mr. Hill asked her from whom she expected a letter. "From my son in Australia." "I will give you the money to pay the postage," said Mr. Hill. "I thank you, sir," said the woman. "It is not neces sary. It was the understanding between me and my son that he should write once a month, and if a letter comes into the office I know that he is well without being obliged to pay the postage." This led Mr. Hill to consider how great an obstruction the then existing rates of postage were upon social, moral, and business interests, as well as a temptation to dis honesty, and forthwith his influence and efforts were devoted to the reform of the system.1

On devoting himself to the question of postage Mr. Hill ascertained that there were three great sources of expense:

First, "taxing" the letters, that is, ascertaining and marking the postage on each, for there were upwards of forty rates on single inland letters alone; second, the complication of accounts arising from the system, postmasters hav ing to be debited with unpaid postage on letters transmitted to their offices and credited with their payments made in return; third, the collection of the postage on delivery. From these facts it was clear that a vast economy would be effected if prepayment, which was very rare, was made a custom. He

next

examined the cost of the actual conveyance and distribution of letters, and Imade his great discovery "that the practice of regulating the amount of post. age by the distance over which an inland letter was conveyed, however plausible in appearance, had no foundation in practice, and that consequently the rates of postage should be irrespective of distance." [Dictionary of National Biog raphy, XXVI, 418.]

The meaning of the discovery was simple. Distance within the confines of a country was practically a negligible quantity. A small uniform rate of postage might therefore be established, and by means of a stamp

1 Cited from Northend's Life and Labors of Elihu Burritt, p. 33, footnote.

paid in advance the Government would be prepaid for the services it was expected to render.

The great apostle of peace, Elihu Burritt, sought to apply the principle to transatlantic postage, for if inland distance were immaterial it was evident that distance beyond the confines of a country might therefore be treated as uniformly negligible. Therefore, there should be a penny postage upon all foreign mail in addition to the internal rate, whatever that might be. Mr. Burritt outlined his plan in September, 1847, visited England in its behalf, addressed one hundred and fifty public meetings on the subject, from Penzance to Aberdeen and from Cork to Dublin. Hundreds of petitions were presented to Parliament in behalf of the reform, and the movement in its favor was recognized as a popular agitation. In a letter written to Mr. Burritt, dated May 31, 1847, Edward Everett said:

Your project of a foreign penny postage is admirable. All the reasons in favor of such a postage at home apply with equal force to international postage. There is, I suppose, a vague idea that to give up the one shilling sterling on American letters would be favoring us, at the expense of the English revenue. It is very doubtful whether it would eventually prove a losing arrangement. But if it were, the saving to the individual payers of postage is, at any rate, as much for the benefit of England as of America. In favor of a foreign penny postage, there is one circumstance that does not apply to domestic mails. The great multiplication of cheap letters has increased the expense of transportation. The service is more costly. But, Mr. Cunard's shoulders are broad and strong; and you may increase the number of mail bags twenty-fold without tiring him. I hope you will meet with entire success in this excellent move of yours. I have spoken of it only as a matter of expense and accommodation to the business world; but I can scarce think of anything which would give so much new life to all international communication, and contribute so much to the formation of a public opinion of the civilized world.

Another friend of Mr. Burritt was the professed pacifist, Charles Sumner, who in March, 1852, introduced the following resolution into the Senate, of which he was already the ornament:

Whereas, the inland postage on a letter for any distance within 3.000 miles is three cents when paid, and five cents if unpaid, while the ocean postage on a similar letter is twenty-four cents, being a burdensome tax amounting, often, to a prohibition of foreign correspondence, and yet letters can be carried at less cost on sea than on land;

And whereas, by increasing correspondence, and also by bringing into the mails mailable matter now often clandestinely conveyed, cheap ocean postage would become self-supporting;

And whereas, cheap ocean postage would tend to quicken commerce; to promote the intercourse of families and friends separated by the ocean; to multiply the bonds of peace and good-will among men and nations, and thus, while important to every citizen, it would become the active ally especially of the mer chant, the emigrant, and the philanthropist; therefore,

Be it resolved, That the President of the United States be requested to open negotiations with the Governments of Great Britain and France for the estab lishment of cheap ocean postage.

And in inclosing a copy of the resolution to Mr. Burritt, Senator Sumner said:

It will be followed up, I trust, with success. Indeed, the intrinsic equity and humanity of the idea commend it more than speech or petition. I look with interest to your English movement. I hope you will persevere without cessation. Such a reform will be a true step on the road to universal international peace.

Mr. Burritt succeeded in influencing that other friend of peace, Mr. John Bright, in the project, who delivered an address in its favor in the House of Commons on June 26, 1852. As Senator Sumner predicted, the movement was followed up with success. Uniform regulations appeared highly desirable, and in 1862 the United States Government officially took the lead in the matter. The Department of State called attention to the many inconveniences flowing from the lack of uniformity, and suggested an international postal conference, which assembled at Paris in May and June, 1863, on which occasion fifteen states represented. In 1874 the general postal union was established by means of which rates were reduced to what might be considered the minimum and made uniform throughout the civilized world, for at present all the civilized nations, and indeed backward nations in which communication is permitted, have adhered to the principle. The Universal Postal Union comes to the very doors of the people and shows not only the possibility but the advantage of cooperation of the nations in order to do the world's work. A recent and authoritative writer expressed forcibly this view in the pages of the JOURNAL, from which the following quotation

is made:

man's

un

That which stands out most prominently, because it touches every daily life, is the formation of the Universal Postal Union. This now embraces the entire civilized world and a considerable part of that which remains civilized. Cheapness, ease, and certainty of communication between nations have been thus secured in such a way as to increase immensely the facilities both for friendly correspondence and commercial intercourse. The congresses

of

the Universal Postal Union, meeting statedly every five years, are in effect assemblies of accredited representatives of all nations for legislative purposes. These have undoubtedly done more than any other one thing to impress the world with the idea that a world union for certain social and political ends is a practicable thing. It can no longer be sneered at as impracticable, because it exists and has existed as a working force for a whole generation. Every man who sends a letter from New York to Tokyo with quick dispatch, for a fee of only five cents, knows that he owes this privilege to an international agreement, and feels himself by virtue of it a citizen of the world.1

The action of the Postmaster-General is to be commended, and it is to be hoped that it will be extended to foreign countries generally, for if the postal union binds together the nations of the earth intercommunication by preventing misunderstanding smooths the path of peace.

LONDON PEACE CONGRESS

Times have indeed changed since the year 1815, when David Lowe Dodge, of New York, with a few devoted followers, founded the first peace society of the world (the New York Peace Society) and Noal Worcester organized the Massachusetts Peace Society (December 26, 1815), nearly a year before the first society in Europe, namely, the English Peace Society, formed at London June 14, 1816. The project of the dreamer has made its way in the world, and the recent London Peace Congress, which met in July the seventeenth in the series of peace congresses held in various lands since 1889 was composed of delegates from two hundred and eighty societies, representing twenty-three different countries. Not only have the peace societies increased in number and influence, but royalty deigns to receive them and wish them. God-speed in their self-imposed mission. The King and Queen of Great Britain, on July 27, 1908, received at Buckingham Palace a deputation of the congress, at which time and place Lord Courtney, no mean figure in the political life of his country, stated:

One common object brings us together the redemption of the world from the curse of international enmity and war, the promotion of legality and upright dealing between the nations, and the desire to bind the peoples of the world together in bonds of confraternity and mutual aid. We rejoice at the many signs of the acceptance of these principles in our day and at the successive efforts of the enlightened statesmen of the twentieth century to give effect to the high ideals which are common attributes of universal religion.

1 Simeon E. Baldwin's "International Congresses and Conferences," AMERICAN JOURNAL OF INTERNATIONAL LAW, Vol. I, pp. 567-568.