New York, June 13,1864.
. . . In reply to your letter of yesterday, the following: I
was informed by Major A. Bolles that my opinion would be very acceptable to
General Dix, as well as to himself, on the following question, “Can any
military court or commission, in a department not under martial law, take
cognizance of, and try a citizen for, any violation of the law of war, such
citizen not being conneeted in any wise with the military service of the United
States?” I answered, that undoubtedly a citizen under these conditions can, or
rather must, be tried by military courts, because there is no other way to try
him and repress the crime which may endanger the whole country; it is very
difficult to say how far martial law extends, or in what degree it extends, in
cases of great danger arising out of war; and that it must never be forgotten
that the whole country is always at war with the enemy; that is to say,
every citizen is an enemy to the opposing belligerent, and that there is in
case of war — especially in a free country where no “cabinet wars” are carried
on — by no means that distinction between soldier and citizen which many people
either believe to exist or desire, — as though the citizen could quietly carry
on all possible mischief with reference to the army, which is in fact his own
army, and with reference to the war, which is as much his war as that of the
army. . . .
SOURCE: Thomas Sergeant Perry, Editor, The Life and
Letters of Francis Lieber, p. 347-8
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