ST. HELENA.
Raccoon, Ill.
What are the area and present population of the island of St. Helena? What is its history? Was the banishment of Napoleon just?
Subscriber.
Answer.—The island of St. Helena, whose name always recalls the gloomy downfall of Napoleon I., contains an area of about forty-seven miles. It supports a population of 6,241 souls. It was discovered in 1501 by Juan de Nova Castella, a bold Portugese navigator, who gave it the name St. Helena, because he first saw it on the day sacred to that saint in the Romish calendar. In the following century the Dutch took possession and retained it until England seized it in 1673. When Napoleon Bonaparte was first banished to this island and held here as a political prisoner under British surveillance, the population was but about 800,200 of whom were soldiers and 300 slaves. The importance to a maratime nation like Great Britain of St. Helena, lying as it does in the path of European, South African, Australian, and India and China trade, developed as years passed: its value as a naval station and its other strategic advantages have become more and more apparent, and now it is looked upon as one of the strong keys of English power in the South Atlantic.
HOW SLAVERY AFFECTED CONGRESSIONAL APPORTIONMENTS.
Henrietta, Neb.
Were slaveholders entitled to extra votes for the slaves which they possessed?
Inquirer.