s was mooted. At a
Conference held in Berlin in 1851, a general European Postal Union was
adumbrated.

The first definite suggestion for the general re-organization of
international postal traffic on a common basis came, however, from
America. In 1863, Mr. Blair, Postmaster-General of the United States, in
a note to the postal administrations of the world, suggested the
assembling of a Congress representative of all nations for the
discussion of the subject. The proposal was favourably received by
fifteen administrations,[575] representing nine-tenths of the commerce
and nineteen-twentieths of the correspondence of the world. The
representatives of these administrations (with the exception of Ecuador)
met at Paris in May 1863.

The Conference was not empowered to enter into any definite arrangement
for the amelioration of the system of international postal traffic. Its
function was simply to discuss and proclaim general principles
applicable to the conduct of the traffic, with a view to their ultimate
adoption by the nations of the world. The discussions centred on the
three fundamental questions of uniformity of weights, uniformity of
rate, and simplification of accounting.[576] Thirty-one articles of
agreement were adopted.[577] These articles recommended, _inter alia_,
the adoption for ordinary letters of a unit of weight and a progression
of weight of 15 grammes; and for corrected proofs, samples, and
documents not in the nature of a letter, a unit and progression of 40
grammes. The Conference was convinced that transit charges were often an
invincible obstacle to the establishment of a really advantageous
international system, and recommended that the transit rate for each
country should never exceed half the postage reckoned at the inland rate
of the country traversed, and that for small countries it should be
even less. For sea transit the Conference recommended that in no case
should the charge against an administration in respect of such transport
be greater than the actual charge made on the country of destination by
the shipping agency by whom the mails were conveyed.

Although its conclusions were without the sanction of authority, the
Conference was nevertheless of great assistance to the development of an
international system. It brought into prominence the obstacles in the
way of international postal intercourse, and the difficulties which must
be removed before a common system could be founded. And it