Cyclopædia of Political Science, Political Economy, and the Political History of the United States
COURIERS, messengers employed by governments, ambassadors and ministers to carry official news or dispatches. In former times couriers were employed as much for rapidity of transmission as to assure the secrecy of communications; in our days the latter is the predominant motive. A courier and his dispatches are alike inviolable, everywhere in time of peace and in time of war, upon neutral territory. In time of war the practice of seizing upon the official correspondence of the enemy is universal, and seems to be justified by the right of self-preservation. Couriers, permanently employed as such, are frequently attired in uniform. When persons are intrusted with dispatches for a particular occasion only, a special passport secures to them the necessary immunities.
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