the plague epidemic of 1675–1676, mail was disinfected at the Barriera in the capital Valletta. At the time it was feared that paper could carry the disease. In 1708, Grand Master Ramón Perellós established the Commissary of Posts, which was Malta's first proper postal service. A post office was established within the Casa del Commun Tesoro in Valletta. At this point, fixed tariffs based on weight, the number of sheets and the destination of a letter were introduced. The first postal markings on Maltese mail appeared sometime in the second half of the 18th century. During Hospitaller rule, most correspondence sent to or from Malta was with the Italian states and France. There was also mail sent to and from Greece and Spain, but this was not as frequent. On 18 June 1798, shortly after the successful French invasion of Malta, Napoleon issued an article which was meant to reorganise Malta's postal system such that postal charges covered the expenses of running the postal service. At this point, a handstamp reading Malte was introduced. The text in this postal marking is set within an irregular shape resembling a loaf, and it is therefore commonly nicknamed as the "Loaf of Bread" handstamp. Early British rule (1799–1884) After a few months of French occupation, a rebellion broke out and the British, Portuguese and Neapolitans assisted the Maltese rebels. On 7 October 1799 Alexander Ball, the British Civil Commissioner of Malta, issued a notice which set up a mail delivery service in the rebel-held parts of Malta. Some rooms in San Anton Palace were used as a post office, and mail was sent to Sicily every week. After Malta had become a British protectorate in 1800, the Island Post Office was established as a government department handling inland mail and ship letters, and it continued to be housed at the Casa del Commun Tesoro. The Chief Secretariat's Office took responsibility of the Post Office in 1815. Starting from 1819, the Island Post Office used various handstamps reading Malta P Paid, Malta Post Paid or Malta Post Office on mail. On 3 July 1806, the Packet Office was established in order to create a regular mail service between Britain and Malta. This was part of the British Post Office, and it was a separate entity from the Island Post Office. The Packet Office was initially also housed in the Casa del Commun Tesoro, but