_For a_ _Double_ _Per_ _single letter_ _letter_ _ounce_ To Leghorn, Genoa, Florence, Lyons, Marseilles, Aleppo, Constantinople 12_d._ 24_d._ 45_d._ To St. Malo, Morlaix, Nieuhaven 6 12 18 To Bordeaux, Rochelle, Nantes, Bayonne, Cadiz, Madrid 9 18 24 To Hamburg, Frankfort, and Cologne 8 16 24 To Dantzic, Leipsic, Lubeck, Stockholm, Copenhagen, Elsinore, Konigsburg 12 24 48[571] [571] Scobell, _Collect._, pt. ii, pp. 511-13. Inland letters containing more than two enclosures but weighing less than an ounce were charged according to the number of enclosures. These rates are considerably lower than those of Witherings and are essentially the same as those of 1653, except that the postage is fixed for letters to and from the continent. No provision is made for letters to and from any other part of the world but Europe. Since the government had not established any postal communication with Asia, Africa, or the Americas, it would have been unfair to demand postage on letters conveyed by merchant vessels to and from those places.[572] [572] Scobell, _Collect._, pt. ii, pp. 511-13. The act of 1660 is generally referred to as bringing the Post Office under Parliamentary control and as the basis of the modern system. This is probably due to the fact that the act of 1657 was passed by a Commonwealth Parliament and signed by Cromwell. Whether its authors lacked the power to give it validity, they did not lack the brains to pass an excellent act, and although the Royalists saw fit, after the Restoration, to dub it the pretended act of 1657, they could not improve it and had the sense to leave it largely untouched. The first act had imposed rates from or to any place to or from London as a centre. It had been taken for granted that all letters passed to, from, or through the capital, and to all intents and purposes this was so. It was possible, however, for letters, technically called bye-letters, to stop short of London, and it was to provide for these that postage was to be reckoned from any place where a letter might be posted.