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Show RENEWS PROTEST TO GREW BRIT1 PRESIDENT DECLARES INTERFERENCE INTERFER-ENCE WITH MAILS MUST CEASE AT ONCE. Takes Position That Practices Complained Com-plained of in First Note Have Been Continued and Insists That They Cease. Washington. President Wilson has completed a note vigorously renewing the protest of the United States to Great Britain against interference with American mails. Secretary Lansing and legal experts at the state department made the original orig-inal draft of the note and the president presi-dent revised its phraseology. It is made up largely of legal arguments argu-ments to meet the contentions of Great Britain in the memorandum, concurred in by France, presented to the state department several weeks ago. The United States takes the position po-sition that practices complained of in its first note on the subject have been continued and that the American government gov-ernment must now insist more emphatically em-phatically that they cease. State department officials consider that the chief weakness in the position posi-tion of Great Britain is her policy of taking neutral mail vessels into British Brit-ish jurisdiction and submitting them to local censorship regulations. It is understood that it is on this point that the renewed protest is chiefly based. The British memorandum avoided this phase of the question. Rapid transmission trans-mission was promised to "true correspondence," corre-spondence," but the right to seize contraband con-traband sent in the mails was maintained. main-tained. The Hague convention of 1907, the United Suites contends, guarantees the inviolability of postal correspondence correspond-ence and the new note again points to the inconvenience and actual money loss resulting from the continuance of the British policy of taking neutral mail vessels into British ports and there examinkig and detaining the mails. A mass of evidence has been collected showing the effects on American Amer-ican business of the British policy. |