in 1817, and succeeding his wife's uncle, George Clymer, as president of that bank in 1819, he filled that post till 1841, when he resigned. He was prominent in the councils of the Episcopal church. During the yellow-fever plague in Philadelphia in 1793, Mr. Read and Stephen Girard remained in the city, and he opened his purse and exposed his life in behalf of his suffering fellow-citizens. Mr. Read was the author of a valuable work entitled “Arguments on the British Debts” (Philadelphia, 1798).—John's son, John Meredith, jurist, b. in Philadelphia, Pa., 21 July, 1797; d. in Philadelphia, 29 Nov., 1874, was graduated at the University of Pennsylvania in 1812, and admitted to the bar in 1818. He was a member of the Pennsylvania legislature in 1822-'3, city solicitor and member of the select council, in which capacity he drew up the first clear exposition of the finances of Philadelphia, U. S. attorney for the eastern district of Pennsylvania in 1837-'44, solicitor-general of the United States, attorney general of Pennsylvania, and chief justice of that state from 1860 until his death. He early became a Democrat, and was one of the founders of the free-soil wing of that party. This induced opposition to his confirmation by the U. S. senate when he was nominated in 1845 as judge of the U. S. supreme court, and caused him to withdraw his name. He was one of the earliest and stanchest advocates of the annexation of Texas and the building of railroads to the Pacific, and was also a powerful supporter of President Jackson in his war against the U. S. bank. He was leading counsel with Thaddeus Stevens and Judge Joseph J. Lewis in the defence of Castner Hanway for constructive treason, his speech on this occasion giving him a wide reputation. He entered the Republican party on its formation, and at the beginning of the presidential canvass of 1850 delivered a speech on the “Power of Congress over Slavery in the Territories,” which was used throughout that canvass (Philadelphia, 1856). The Republican party gained its first victory in Pennsylvania in 1858, electing him judge of the supreme court by 30,000 majority. This brought him forward as a candidate for the presidency of the United States in 1860; and Abraham Lincoln's friends were prepared to nominate him for that office, with the former for the vice-presidency, which arrangement was defeated by Simon Cameron in the Pennsylvania Republican convention in February of that year. He nevertheless received several votes in the Chicago convention, notwithstanding that all his personal influence was used in favor of Mr. Lincoln. The opinions of Judge Read run through forty-one volumes of reports. His “Views on the Suspension of the Habeas Corpus” (Philadelphia, 1863) were adopted as the basis of the act of 3 March, 1863, which authorized the president of the United States to suspend the habeas corpus act. He refused an injunction to prevent the running of horse-cars on Sunday, since he could not consent to stop “poor men's carriages.” Many thousand copies of this opinion (Philadelphia, 1867) were printed. His amendments form an essential part of the constitutions of Pennsylvania and New Jersey, and his ideas were formulated in many of the statutes of the United States. Brown gave him the degree of LL. D. in 1860. Judge Read was the author of a great number of published addresses and legal opinions. Among them are “Plan for the Administration of the Girard Trust”(Philadelphia. 1833); “The Law of Evidence” (1864); and “Jefferson Davis and his Complicity in the Assassination of Abraham Lincoln” (1866).—John Meredith's son, John Meredith, diplomatist, b. in Philadelphia, 21 Feb., 1837; d. in Paris, France, 27 Dec., 1896. He was a graduate of Brown, where he received the degree of A. M. in 1866, was graduated at Albany law-school in 1859, studied international law in Europe, was admitted to the bar in Philadelphia, and afterward removed to Albany, N. Y. He was adjutant-general of New York in 1860-'6, was one of the originators of the “Wide-Awake” political clubs in 1860. He was chairman in April of the same year of the committee of three to draft a bill in behalf of New York state, appropriating $300,000 for the purchase of arms and equipments, and he subsequently received the thanks of the war department for his ability and zeal in organizing, equipping, and forwarding troops. He was first U. S. consul-general for France and Algeria in 1869-'73 and 1870-'2, acting consul-general for Germany during the Franco-German war. After the war he was appointed by Gen. de Cissey, minister of war, to form and preside over a commission to examine into the desirability of teaching the English language to the French troops. In November, 1873, he was appointed U. S. minister resident in Greece. One of his first acts was to secure 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 advantages that would accrue to the commerce of the United States were a grain-fleet despatched from New York to that port. The event justified his judgment, since the exports of cereals from the United States showed an increase within a year of $73,000,000. While minister to Greece he received the thanks of his government for his effectual protection of American persons and interests in the dangerous crisis of 1878. Soon afterward congress, from motives of economy, refused the appropriation for the legation at Athens, and Gen. Read, believing that the time was too critical to withdraw the mission, carried it on at his individual expense until his resignation, 23 Sept., 1879. In 1881, when, owing in part to his efforts, after his resignation, the territory that had been adjudged to Greece had been finally transferred, King George created him a Knight grand cross of the order of the Redeemer, the highest dignity in the gift of the Greek government. Gen. Read was president of the Social science congress at Albany, N. Y., in 1868, and vice-president of the one at Plymouth, England, in 1872. He is the author of an “Historical Enquiry concerning Henry Hudson,” which first threw light upon his origin, and the sources of the ideas that guided that navigator (Albany, 1866), and contributions to current literature.
READ, Nathan, inventor, b. in Warren, Mass., 2 July, 1759; d. near Belfast. Me., 20 Jan., 1849. He was graduated at Harvard in 1781. and continued there as tutor for four years. In 1788 he began experimenting with a view of utilizing the steam-engine for propelling boats and carriages, by devising lighter and more compact machinery than that in common use. He invented as a substitute for the great working-beam the cross-head running in guides with a connecting-rod to communicate the motion, similar to that adopted by Robert Fulton in his " Car of Neptune. The " new invented cylinder," as he calls it, to which this working-frame was attached, was a double-acting cylinder. To render the boiler more portable, Read invented the multitubular form, which was patented with the cylinder, chain-wheel, and other
