Letters to the Editor — January 2021

Originally published January 2021 · p. 2

Letters to the

Editor

LETTER TO THE EDITOR: Kudos to Civil War News for its Expanded November Book Issue. What a treat to read so many Top 10 Civil War Book Lists by Civil War writers. When I started buying Civil War books in the mid90s, I relied on David Eicher’s book, The Civil War in Books, as my guidepost. It is, of course, a bit dated now so I was very happy to review your contributors’ lists and put some books on my acquisition list and then moved others I already have further up on my reading list. Your regular book reviews were also quite informative. I also want to thank you for now putting Civil War News in a polybag to cut down on damage and lost copies (both of which I have experienced). I am more than happy to pay the additional cost. Excellent decision. John B. Sinclair Towson, MD LETTER TO THE EDITOR: I enjoy the Civil War News very much. The articles, columns, book reviews, and contributors are top notch, and the information always interesting. I especially enjoyed the tribute Ed Bearss in your November issue. What an amazing historian. One thing I would love to see more of is your Co. A cartoons. They seem to appear sporadically, but are always funny when they do. They lend a little military humor to a serious subject. Keep up the great work on CWN. F. Marion Redd Hillsborough, NC LETTER TO THE EDITOR: “A Note On Privateers” April’s Civil War News issue “Through the Lens” discussion in that portion on legitimate privateers versus high seas robbers was surely very interesting to many readers. Not all may realize the origin of laws relating to the practice, including our own Constitution.

Letters of Marque & Reprisal Pirates roving the seas in armed vessels “without any commission of passport from any government” and attacking all manner of vessels may prompt a return to a granting to private entities, granting Letters of Marque & Reprisal to private entities. Dating back to Revolutionary War days, the English addressed piracy in its admiralty courts and later the common law courts by Statute of 28, Henry III. The law of marque (pronounced “mark”) while often used with a sort of law of ‘reprisal’ entitling he who has received any wrong from another, and where justice fails to take the goods (or body) of the wrongdoer, allows the private entity or so-called ‘privateer’ to find them wherever found in satisfaction of the wrong. Certain situations and the extent of a privateer’s authority can get complicated but generally any capture by one duly commissioned by a nation at war to capture boats of the enemy, a ‘privateer’ is justified under the government warrant or commission with regard to his acts and sufficient protection against imputing ‘piracy’ to him. Robbery on the High Seas However, robbery on the high seas is ‘piracy’ and considered done animo furandi (Latin for (with the intention to steal) say numerous court decisions, and held to be against the United States under the Act of April 30, 1790. The word “piractical” appears in the Act of 1819 referring to the class of offenses pirates perpetrated. In modern times, partly due to global treaties and practices, ‘reprisals’ are typically confined to seizures of commercial property by government ships though presumably the seizures can be shifted to companies under contract to the military. If further incidents assume “the character of a private unauthorized war,” the law of nations will likely inflict the punishment and penalties the laws allow. U.S. Constitution, Article 1, Sec. 8, Clause 10,11 This gives Congress the power to hire pirates to attack the nation’s enemies, a letter giving official permission to do their thing in the name of the national interest. Joan Wenner, J.D.