The record-union., 1896-12-28
AGED DIPLOMATIST DEAD.
GENERAL JOHN MEREDITH READ
PASSES AWAY AT PARIS.
He Passed Thirty Years in Almost
Continuous Service of His
Country.

| PARIS. Dec. 27.-General John Mere
dith Read died this morning, from
| pneumonia.
John Meredith Read, the well-knoWn
American diplomatist was born in Phil
adelphia February -, 1927, he being
son of a former Solicitor General of the
| United States. He received his educa-
| ton at military school and at Brown
| University, where he received the degree
| of A. NJ. in 1916. He was graduated at
| the Albany Law School in 1859, studied
international law in Europe, was ad
mitted to the bar in Philadelphia and
afterward removed to Albany, n. Y.
| He was Acknowledgement of New
| York in 1S6O-6, and was one of the
originators of the Wide Awake" po-
| litical clubs in 1860 He was Chairman
| in April of the same year of the Com
| mittee of three to draft a bill in behalf
of New York State, appropriating $780,
| 600 for the purchase of arms and equip
ments, and he subsequently received the
thanks of the War Department for his
ability and zeal in organizing, equipping
and forwarding troops. He was first
| United States Consul-General for
France and Algeria in 1869 20 and 1870
acting Consul-G General for Germany
during the Franco-German war.
| After the war he was appointed by
| General de Cissey, French Minister of
War, to form and preside over a COM
mission to examine into the desirability
of teaching the English language to the
French troops.
| In November, 1878, he was appointed
| United States Minister resident in
| Greece. One of his first acts was to Sc
| cure the release of the American ship
/ Armenia" and to obtain from the
| Greek Government a revocation of the
| order that prohibited the sale of the
Bible in Greece. During the Russo
Turkish war he discovered that only one
| port in Russia was still open and he
pointed out to Secretary Evarts the ad-
! vantages that would accrue to the COM
merce of the United States were grain
| fleet dispatched from New York to that
| port. The event justified his Judgment,
since the exports of cereals from the
United States showed an increase within
year of $73,O00,0OO.
While Minister to Greece he received
the thanks of his Government for his
| effectual protection of American per-
| sons and interests in the dangerous
| crisis of 1881. Soon after Congress.
! from motives of economy, refused the
! appropriation for the legation at
Athens, and General Read believing that
| the time was too critical to withdraw
| the mission carried it on at his own in
dividual expense until his resignation,
| September %. 1889.
! In 1891 when, owing in part to his eff
| forts after his resignation, the territory
that had been adjudged to Greece had
| been finally transferred, King George
created him Knight Grand Cross OF
| the Order of the Redeemer, the highest
i dignity in the gift of the Greek Govern
ment. General Read was President of
| the Social Science Congress at Albany,
n. Y, in 1868, and Vice-President of the
one at Plymouth, England, in lSi2. he
was the author of an Historical In
quiry concerning Henry Hudson" which
| first threw light upon his origin and the
| source of the ideas that guided that
navigator, and contributions to current
/ literature.