Lewis Cass, Alpheus Felch.-INDIANA, Jesse D. Bright, James Whitcomb.ILLINOIS, Stephen A. Douglas, James Shields.-MISSOURI, Thomas H. Benton, David R. Atchison.-FLORIDA, David Yulee, Jackson Morton.-TEXAS, Thomas J. Rusk, Samuel Houston.-Iowa, George W. Jones, Augustus C. Dodge.-WISCONSIN, Henry Dodge, Isaac P. Walker. CALIFORNIA has chosen John C. Fremont and William M. Gwinn, as senators, to take their seats on the admission of the state into the Union. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. Speaker-Hon. HOWELL COBB, MEMBERS. MAINE, Thomas J. D. Fuller, Elbridge Gerry, Rufus K. Goodenow, Nathaniel S. Littlefield, John Otis, Cullen Sawtelle, Charles Stetson.-NEW HAMPSHIRE, Harry Hibbard, Charles H. Peaslee, Amos Tuck, James Wilson.-VERMONT, William Hebard, William Henry, James Meacham, Lucius B. Peck.—MASSACHUSETTS, Charles Allen, George Ashmun, James H. Duncan, Orrin Fowler. Joseph Grinnell, Daniel P. King, Horace Mann, Julius Rockwell, Robert C. Winthrop, Vacancy.-RHODE ISLAND, Nathan F. Dixon, George G. King.-CoxNECTICUT, Walter Booth, Thomas P. Butler, Chauncey F. Cleveland, Lorenzo P. Waldo.-NEW YORK, Henry P. Alexander, George R. Andrews, Henry Bennett, David A. Bokee, George Briggs, James Brooks, Lorenzo Burrows, Charles E. Clarke, Harmon S. Conger, William Duer, Daniel Gott, Herman D. Gould, Ransom Halloway, William T. Jackson, John A. King, Preston King, Orsamus B. Mattison, Thomas M Kissock, William Nelson, J. Phillips Phoenix, Harvey Putnam, Gideon Reynolds, Elijah Risley, Robert L. Rose, David Rumsey, jr., William A. Sackett, Abraham M. Schermerhorn, John L. Schoolcraft, Peter H. Silvester, Elbridge G. Spaulding, John R. Thurman, Walter Underhill, Hiram Walden, Hugh White.-NEW JERSEY, Andrew K. Hay, James G. King, Wm. A. Newell, John Van Dyke, Isaac Wildrick.-PENNSYLVANIA, Chester Butler, Samuel Calvin, Joseph Casey, Joseph R. Chandler, Jesse C. Dickey, Milo M. Dimmick, John Freedley, Alfred Gilmore, Moses Hampton, John W. Howe. Lewis C. Levin, Job Mann, James X. M'Lanahan, Henry D. Moore, Henry Nes, Andrew J. Ogle, Charles W. Pitman, Robert R. Reed, John Robbins, jr., Thos. Ross, Thaddeus Stevens, William Strong, James Thompson, David Wilmot.DELAWARE, John W. Houston.-MARYLAND, Richard J. Bowie, Alexander Evans. William T. Hamilton, Edward Hammond, John B. Kerr, Robert M. McLane.VIRGINIA, Thomas H. Averett, Thomas H. Bayly, James M. H. Beale, Thomas S. Bocock, Henry A. Edmondson, Thomas S. Haywood, Alexander R. Holladay. James M Dowell, Fayette M Mullen, Richard K. Meade, John S. Millson, Jeremiah Morton, Richard Parker, Paulus Powell, James A. Seddon.-NORTH CARO LINA, William S. Ashe, Joseph P. Caldwell, Thomas L. Clingman, John R. J. Daniel, Edmund Deberry, David Outlaw, Augustine H. Sheppard, Edward Stanley, Abraham W. Venable,—SOUTH CAROLINA, Armistead Burt, William F. Colcock, Isaac E. Holmes, John M'Queen, James L. Orr. Daniel Wallace, Joseph A. Woodward.-GEORGIA, Howell Cobb, Thomas C. Hackett, Hugh A. Haralson, Thomas Butler King, Allen T. Owen, Alexander H. Stephens, Robert Toombs, Marshal J. Welborn.-ALABAMA, Albert J. Alston, Franklin W. Bowdon, Williamson R. W. Cobb, Samson W. Harris, Henry W. Hilliard, David Hubbard, Samuel W. Inge.-MISSISSIPPI, Albert G. Brown, Winfield S. Featherston, William M Willie, Jacob Thompson.- LOUISIANA, Charles M. Conrad, John H. Harmanson, Emile La Sere, Isaac E. Morse.-OHIO, Joseph Cable. Lewis D. Campbell, David K. Carter, Moses B. Corwin, John Crowell, David T. Disney, Nathan Evans, Joshua R. Giddings, Moses Hoagland, William F. Hinter, John K. Miller, Jonathan D. Morris, Edson B. Olds, Emery D. Potter. Joseph M. Root, Robert C. Schenck, Charles Sweetzer, John L. Taylor, Samue! F. Vinton, William A. Whittlesey, Amos E. Wood.-KENTUCKY, Linn Boyd, Daniel Breck, George A. Caldwell, James L. Johnson, Humphrey Marshall, John C. Mason, Finis E. M Lean, Charles S. Morehead, Richard H. Stanton, John B. Thompson.-TENNESSEE, Josiah M. Anderson, Andrew Ewing, Meredith P. Gentry, Isham G. Harris, Andrew Johnson, George W. Jones, John H. Savage, Frederick P. Stanton, James H. Thomas, Albert G. Watkins, Christopher H. Williams.-INDIANA, Nathaniel Albertson, William J. Brown, Cyrus L. Dunham, Graham N. Fitch, Willis A. Gorman, Andrew J. Harlan, George W. Julian, Joseph E. M'Donald, Edward W. M'Gaughey, John L. Robinson.-ILLINOIS, Edward D. Baker, William H. Bissell, Thomas L. Harris, John A. M Clernand, William A. Richardson, John Wentworth, Thomas R. Young.MISSOURI, William V. N. Bay, James B. Bowlin, James S. Green, Willard P. Hall, John S. Phelps.-ARKANSAS, Robert W. Johnson.-MICHIGAN, Kinsley S. Bingham, Alexander W. Buel, William Sprague.-FLORIDA, E. Carrington Cabell.-TEXAS, Volney E. Howard, David S. Kaufman.-Iowa, Shepherd Leffler, William Thompson.-WISCONSIN, Orsamus Cole, James D. Doty, Charles Durkee.-OREGON, S. R. Thurston.-MINESOTA, Henry H. Sibley. CALIFORNIA has sent as representatives, to take their seats on the admission of the state, George W. Wright and Edward Gilbert. THE SPEAKERS OF THE HOUSE. Since the organization of the government under the constitution adopted in April, 1789, the following have been speakers of the house of representatives: Congress. Commenced. Frederick A. Muhlenburg, Pa. Theo. Sedgwick, Mass. F. A. Muhlenburg, Pa. Dec., 1799, do. Joseph B. Varnum, Mass. do. Henry Clay, Kentucky. resigned. resigned. {John W. Taylor, N. Y. Philip P. Barbour, Va. do. 7 16 Dec., 1819, 17 18 19 Dec., 1825, do. John White, Ky. James K. Polk, Tenn. do. Robert M. T. Hunter, Va. John W. Jones, Va. BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. (Prepared for the Register.) We commence in this section of the work a series of notices of prominent men, which we design to continue throughout the succeeding volumes. It is not our intention, in the prosecution of this plan, to write eulogies of distinguished characters, or to set down all they have done, and written, or spoken: we merely propose to make a record, in a statistical form, in which will be noted the principal events of their lives,-the steps by which they have advanced to their present positions. We introduce, first, the sketches of officers of the general government, and members of Congress, so far as we are at present possessed of authentic materials for the purpose, and as specimens of our plan. In the next volume we shall continue the series, with notices of the other senators, members of the cabinet and representatives, and in every successive volume add to the record similar sketches of all the public men of the country distinguished by station, services, or talents. Gen. ZACHARY TAYLOR, President of the United States, was born in Orange county, Virginia, in 1790. His father, Col. Taylor, served in the war of the revolution, and in 1790 emigrated from Virginia to Kentucky, where he bore a conspicuous part in the labours and struggles of the early settlers. In May, 1808, Zachary Taylor was commissioned as a Lieutenant in the 7th Regiment of U. S. Infantry. In 1812 he was made captain, and placed in command of Fort Harrison on the Wabash. When the war with Great Britain commenced, the fort was attacked by 400 Indians, and for his successful defence of it, he was brevetted major. After that war, he received the rank of colonel, and during the Black-Hawk war in 1832, distinguished himself at the battle of Bad-axe, which resulted in the capture of Black-Hawk and the Prophet. In 1836, he was ordered to Florida in command of a separate column, and in December, 1837, fought at the battle of Okee-cho-bee, which resulted in the total defeat of a large body of the Indians. In May, 1845, Texas was annexed to the Union, and in the August following, General Taylor, then in command of the first department of the army, proceeded with a portion of his troops to Corpus Christi. On the 11th of March, 1846, he took up his line of march for the Rio Grande, where he arrived on the 28th. On the 12th of April, he was summoned by the Mexican general to evacuate his posts on the river, which he refused to do. On the 1st of May he left his intrenchments opposite Matamoras, to open the communication with Point Isabel. On the 8th of May, on his return to relieve Fort Brown, which was bombarded by the Mexicans, he was encountered by 6000 of the enemy at Palo Alto, whom he defeated. His own force consisted of 2100 men. The next day, the 9th, he again met them at Resaca de la Palma, and after a hard-fought battle routed them with great slaughter, and took possession of Matamoras. These two signal victories, obtained with such disparity of force, produced an enthusiastic admiration of Gen. Taylor, and of his gallant companions in arms. On the 21st and 22d of September, he assaulted Monterey, a fortified city in Mexico, which, after a desperate resistance, capitulated. 22d February, 1847, with a force consisting of 5000 men, (Gen. Wool being second in command,) he encountered the Mexicans at Buena Vista, under Santa Anna, 20.000 strong, and totally defeated them. On the 14th February, 1849, on an examination of the electoral votes for President and Vice President, he was declared duly elected President of the United States, and was inaugurated the 4th of March following. On the Hon. MILLARD FILLMORE, Vice President of the United States, was born in Summer Hill, Cayuga county, New York, Jan. 7th, 1800. His father, Nathaniel Fillmore, is a farmer, still living in Erie county, New York. Mr. Fillmore spent four years, in early life, in working at the clothier's trade, and during that time devoted all his leisure hours to reading and study. At the age of nineteen he attracted the notice of Judge Wood, of Cayuga county, who took him into his office. In 1821, he removed to Buffalo, and entered a law office, teaching for his maintenance until the year 1823, when he was licensed to practise in the court of common pleas. In 1827, he was admitted an attorney of the supreme court of the state of New York. In 1829 he was elected a member of the assembly from Erie county, and was twice re-elected. He was elected to Congress in the fall of 1832, and after the expiration of his term resumed the practice of his profession. In 1836 he was again sent to Congress, and was subsequently re-elected for another term. During this session, he was placed at the head of the committee of ways and means. In 1814, he was nominated by the whig party as their candidate for governor. In 1847, he was elected comptroller of the state. In 1848 he was elected Vice President of the United States, and on the 4th March, 1849, he entered upon the duties of the office. Hon. WILLIAM MORRIS MEREDITH, Secretary of the Treasury, was born in the city of Philadelphia on the 8th June, A. D. 1799. He was educated at the University of Pennsylvania, and was admitted to the degree of Bachelor of Arts in that institution at the annual commencement in July, 1812, when he took the second honour, and delivered the valedictory oration. He studied law in the office of his father, the late William Meredith, Esq., and was admitted to the bar in December, 1817, and immediately commenced the practice of the law. In this pursuit he was eminently successful, and occupied a high position in the profession. In October, 1824, he was elected one of the representatives of the city of Philadelphia in the legislature of Pennsylvania, and continued to serve in that capacity, (with a short intermission,) till the spring of 1828. In 1833, he was elected a member of the select council of Philadelphia, and in the ensuing year succeeded the Hon. Joseph R. Ingersoll as president of the council. This office he continued to hold till March, 1849, when he resigned it on being appointed Secretary of the Treasury of the United States. He was elected one of the representatives of the city of Philadelphia in the convention which met in 1837, to revise the constitution of the commonwealth of Pennsylvania, and served in that body till its final adjournment in 1838. Hon. THOMAS CORWIN, Senator from Ohio, was born in Bourbon county, in the state of Kentucky, on the 29th July, A. D. 1794. His father removed with his family to the Miami valley in Ohio, then the north-western territory, in the year 1799. He was brought up like all others in that new country, at constant hard labour, in clearing the woods and cultivating the earth. His scholastic education was such as could be had at a common school as then taught, the opportunities of which he enjoyed at intervals up to his 14th year. In the year 1813 he received a severe injury, which disqualified him for hard labour. He studied law, was admitted to the bar in 1817. In 1818, he was appointed public prosecutor for the county he resided in, which place he held eleven years. He was elected to the Ohio legislature in 1822, and again in 1823. He then declined a re-election. In 1829 he was again induced to take a seat in the Ohio legislature. In 1830 he was elected to the House of Representatives in Congress, and served his district for ten years without interruption. In July, 1840, he was nominated for Governor of Ohio by the whig party. He resigned his seat in Congress in May, 1840, was elected governor of Ohio, and served out the term. In 1844 he was elected to the senate of the United States. Hon. ALBERT C. GREENE, Senator from Rhode Island, was born April 15, 1791, in Rhode Island. His father was the youngest brother of the celebrated Gen. Greene of the revolutionary army. He studied law in the city of New York in the office of the late George Brinckerhoff, and was admitted to practice in May, 1812. He passed the next winter at the law school in Litchfield, Conn., and commenced the practice of the law at East Greenwich, Kent county, R. I., where he married; and in 1815 was elected a representative in general assembly from that town, and was re-elected semi-annually to the same office until 1824. He was speaker of the house of representatives of Rhode Island for several years, and also held the office of major general of the state. In 1824 he was elected attorney general of the state, and was annually re-elected to the same office until 1843, when, on the adoption of the present constitution, he declined a nomination. Whilst holding this office, he distinguished himself on the celebrated trial of the Rev. E. K. Avery for murder. Having removed to Providence in 1834, Gen. Greene was elected senator from that city when he relinquished the office of attorney general in 1843, and was re-elected in 1844. In January, 1845, he was elected U. S. senator for six years, from the 4th of March, 1845. General Greene lost his only son on board the ill-fated steamer Lexington, which was burnt on Long Island sound. Hon. HENRY CLAY, Senator from Kentucky, is a native of Hanover county, Virginia, and was born 12th April, 1777. His father was a clergyman, and died during the revolutionary war. The scantiness of his means, in early life, obliged him to submit to manual labour and personal sacrifices, but by his energy and talent he overcame all hinderances. In 1793, becoming acquainted with Chancellor Wythe at Richmond, Va., he commenced the study of the law, and in 1797, bearing a license to practise, he removed to Lexington, Kentucky. His rise to distinction in his profession was very rapid. In December, 1806, he was elected to the senate of the United States for an unexpired term. In 1808 he became a member of the Kentucky legislature. In 1810, he took his seat again in the senate of the United States to supply a vacancy. In 1811 he was elected a member of the house of representatives, and was chosen speaker of that body. In 1814 he was sent as one of the commissioners to Ghent, to negotiate a treaty of peace. On his return he was again sent to Congress, and chosen speaker in 1815 and 1817. In 1818 he made his celebrated speech in favour of the recognition of the independence of the South American republics. In 1823 was again elected speaker of the house, and in 1824 made a speech in favour of the protection of American industry. In 1824 he was a candidate for the presidency. Of the electoral votes, Mr. Adams received 84, Mr. Crawford 49, Gen. Jackson 99, and Henry Clay 37. Mr. Adams was chosen President by the house of representatives, and Mr. Clay accepted the office of secretary of state, March 4, 1825. In 1831 he was elected to the senate of the United States. In 1832 he was again a candidate for the Presidency, when Gen. Jackson was re-elected. In 1833 he brought forward the celebrated tariff compromise bill, which passed both houses. In 1836 he was re-elected senator. On the 31st March, 1842, he resigned his seat in the senate. In May, 1844, was again nominated for the presidency by the whig party-Mr. Polk being the democratic candidate. The latter received 170 electoral votes, and Mr. Clay 105. In February, 1847, Mr. Clay lost his son, Col. Henry Clay, who was killed fighting valiantly at the battle of Buena Vista. In December, 1849, he again took his seat in the senate of the United States. Hon. DANIEL S. DICKINSON, Senator from New York, was born at Goshen, Conn., Sept. 11th, 1800, and removed with his father to the State of New York in 1806. He learned a mechanic's trade, but did not pursue it after he attained his majority. He then devoted himself to study, and was strictly |