ent numbered
24,787--more than half to the United States; besides which 31,050
domestic letters were transmitted among the group of islands. There
are 535 free-schools, of which 431 are Protestant, with 12,976
scholars, and 104 Roman Catholic, with 2056 scholars. There were 1171
marriages; and the population returns shew that the number of natives
is still slowly on the decrease, the births among them having been
2424, while the deaths were 5792.

ADVENTURES OF A YORKSHIRE GROOM.

Letters from Parma, of the 9th instant, announce that the resolution
has been taken at Vienna to deprive the Duke of Parma of the
administration of his states, and to put in a regency, of which Ward
is to be the head. The elevation of Ward affords not only a singular
instance of the mutability of human affairs, but of the tendency of
the Anglo-Saxon race, when transplanted to foreign countries, to
emerge to eminence, and surpass others by the homely but rare
qualities of common-sense and unfaltering energy. Ward was a Yorkshire
groom. The Duke of Lucca, when on a visit to this country, perceiving
the lad's merit, took him into his service, and promoted him, through
the several degrees of command in his stable, to be head-groom of the
ducal stud. Upon Ward's arrival in Italy with his master, it was soon
found that the intelligence which he displayed in the management of
the stables was applicable to a variety of other departments. In fact,
the duke had such a high opinion of Ward's wisdom, that he very rarely
omitted to consult him upon any question that he was perplexed to
decide. As Louis XII. used to answer those who applied to him on any
business, by referring them to the Cardinal d'Amboise, with the words:
'Ask George,' so Charles of Lucca cut short all applications with 'Go
to Ward.' He now became the factotum of the prince, won, in the
disturbances which preceded the revolutionary year of 1848, a
diplomatic dignity, and was despatched to Florence upon a confidential
mission of the highest importance. He was deputed to deliver to the
Grand Duke the act of abdication of the Duke of Lucca. Soon after, in
1849, when the Duke of Lucca resigned his other states to his son,
Ward became the head counsellor of this prince. Ward was on one
occasion despatched to Vienna in a diplomatic capacity. Schwarzenberg
was astonished at his capacity; in fact, the _ci-devant_ Yorkshire
stable-boy was the only one of the diplomatic body that could ma