AMERICA.

West Coast Times, Issue 291, 29 August 1866, Page 1 (Supplement)

AMERICA.

(from the ahgus correspondent.)

RECONSTRUCTION SCHEMES.

There seems no probability now of any " reconstruction" this year. The chief attention of parties is being directed to the autumn elections, by which their relative strength must be finally determined. In connexion -with the Civil Rights Bill, difficulties have already arisen. Judge Thomas, of the Circuit Court of Virginia, has decided, in opposition to it, that no Congressional legislation can impair the right of the state to enforce the existing laws excluding negro testimony from the courts. So also in the First District Court of Louisiana another judge has condemned the bill, revieAving its provisions with much freedom, and in strong language declaring them to overstep constitutional boundaries. The question must ultimately come before the Sapreme Court. Meantime, President Johnson has not shrunk from a third time exercising the veto — in this instance rejecting the Colorado Admission Bill, by which the Radicals had hoped to strengthen their position in in the Senate by the addition of two members. In this act Mr Johnson is sustained by most dispassionate observers ; for the bill would have given to Colorado, with its 30,000 inhabitants, an influence equivalent to that of New York, with its 4,000,000, and thus have created an anomaly of the kind such as reformers of the Old World are laboring to remove. But the ire of the Radicals has been so stirred by these repeated checks, that they refused to consider the President's message, and it was laid ignominiously uppn the table. The Constitutional Amendment passed the House of Representatives exactly as it came from the Committee of Fifteen, by a large majority ; but in the Senate it has been shorn of the clause which disfranchised until 1870 all who had taken part in the rebellion, or, in other words, the whole of the eleven insurgent states. As we now understand it, the bill disqualifies for Federal state office all rebels who formerly held national, state, or judicial office. As to the condition of the South a joint committee has been appointed, to examine and report upon the Freedinen's Bureau. Gen. Grant recommends an increase of the number of regular troops, not only to protect new settlements, but for the better security of the districts unsettled by war, where fierce feuds between neighbors, or animosities of race, are liable to occasion riot or bloodshed. That there is need of "more watchful guardianship along the frontier states, is shown by the fact that the Indians in the far west have surprised another fort, and barbarously murdered all its inmates.

TRIAL OF PRESIDENT DAVIS.

We have again rumors about the trial of Mr Davis. He has been for some time failing in health, aud efforts have been made to secure him greater freedom. Mrs Davis has been permitted to see her husband, and has actively interceded in his behalf. At length he has been allowed the freedom of the fortress on parole; indeed, a later report intimates that he has been permitted to give bail of 50,000 dol., and go at large ; but this statement needs authentication. Again, an indictment has been framed against him. In curious legal phraseology, it charges him " with not having the fear of God before his eyes, nor weighing the duty of hia allegiance, but being moved aud seduced by the instigation of the Devil, and wickedly devising and intending the peace and tranquility of the United States of America to disturb, and the Government to subvert, and to stir, move, and incite rebellion, insurrection, and war against the United States." This crime is said to have been committed on " the 15th day of June, 1864." in the county of Richmond. Mr Davis anticipates with much hope his trial, which, postponed from time to time, will now probably take place in the autumn. It is understood he will base his defence upon the principle of state rights, and the privilege of every citizen to sustain the official action of his State. Mr Sumner has presented a petition in the Senate requesting that the trial be by court-martial, and characterising the procedure before Virginia Circuit Court as a comedy for the world to laugh it. President Johnson, whose clemency has now become a matter of reproach, is said to regard the trial simply as necessary to assert the principle that the claims of the United States are paramount above all other considerations of allegiance.

THE WAS WITH CHILI.

With the news of European complications comes a rumor that the Emperor Maximilian is about to abdicate the throne of Mexico ; but this statement is denied by the organs of the French Government, and probably owes its origin to the idea that he will be deprived of foreign aid by the stress of affairs on this side the water. From Madrid we have the announcement that the campaign on the Chilian coast is terminated. This rather enigmatical declaration may possibly be the first consequence of the defeat sustained by the Spanish fleet. It was with some satisfaction we heard that Admiral Nunez had received a well-merited chastisement for his merciless aggressions. After bombarding the defenceless city of Valparaiso, he had proceeded to Callao, the principal port of Peru. Here the shore batteries opposed an unexpected resistance, and he was repulsed with great loss, being wounded himself, and one or two of his ironclads being disabled by the Blakely artillery, which defended the town. The Spanish squadron has since sought safer

waters. There is but one opinion amongst neutral nations as to the highhanded proceedings of Spain. Englishmen, who have suffered most from her injustice, may be excused if they rejoice in her reverses.