The following is a digest of the decrees issued by the French government
regulating the use of the telegraph in the empire.
_1st._ All persons whose identity is established are allowed to
correspond by the government electric telegraph.
_2d._ Private correspondence is always subordinate to the necessity of
government service.
_3d._ Despatches are to be written in _ordinary and intelligible
language_, dated and signed by the sender, and to be given to the
officer of the telegraph station, whose duty it is to _copy in full the
despatch_, with the address of the sender.
_4th._ The director of a station may, on grounds of public order and
morality, _refuse to transmit a despatch_. In case of dispute, reference
is to be made, in Paris, to the minister of the interior; in the
provinces to the prefect, sub-prefect, or other constituted authority.
On the receipt of a despatch, the director of the station may _withhold
its delivery_ for like reasons.
_5th._ Private correspondence may be suspended at any time by the
government. _The government will not assume any responsibility for
errors in the transmission of despatches._
_6th._ The director of the station must be satisfied as to the identity
of the sender’s signature. If the director refuses the transmission of a
message, he must state his reason in writing on the despatch. He must
indorse on it “political,” “offensive,” “not consistent with public
good,” etc.
_7th._ No line of electric telegraph can be established or employed for
the transmission of correspondence except by the government, or on its
authority. _Any person transmitting, without authority, signals from one
place to another, whether by electric telegraph, or in any other way, is
liable to imprisonment from one month to a year, and a fine of 1,000 to
10,000 francs, and the government may order the destruction of the
apparatus and telegraph employed._
_8th._ Any one _accidentally_ interrupting the correspondence of the
electric telegraph, or injuring in any way the lines or apparatus, is
liable to a fine of from 16 to 3,000 francs.
_9th._ Any one wilfully causing an interruption, by injuring the lines
or apparatus, is punishable by imprisonment from three months to two
years, and a fine of 100 to 1,000 francs. Any one who shall menace an
operator during periods of insurrectionary movements is subject to a
fine of 1,000 to 5,000 francs.
_10th._ Written statements by telegraph officers to be received as
evidence in all complaints.
_11th._ Reimbursements of charges on despatches, in consequence of
delays or errors in transmission, cannot be made except by the
administration. When a despatch is withdrawn by the forwarder before
transmission, the expense of delivery only can be refunded.
The charge on despatches sent in the night will be double the usual
tariff for the day business (the exact opposite of the American rule).