Tuesday, July 28, 2015

Francis Lieber to Major-General Henry W. Halleck, June 13, 1864


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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