READ. JOHN MEREDITH, an Amer ican jurist; born in Philadelphia, Pa., July 21, 1797; was graduated at the University of Pennsylvania in 1812; ad mitted to the bar in 1818. He held a seat in the Pennsylvania Legislature in 1822-1823; was United States attorney for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania in 1837-1844; and served as chief-justice and attorney-general of Pennsylvania, and solicitor-general of the United States in 1860-1874. He was long a Democrat, and was prominent in the founding of the Free-soil branch of that party. He affiliated with the Republican party when it was formed. and in the presidential campaign of 1856 made an address on the "Power of Congress over Slavery in the Territories," which had much in fluence throughout the country. In 1858, on the first victory of the Republi can party in Pennsylvania, he was elected judge of the Supreme Court, by a majority of 30,000. In 1860 he was mentioned as a candidate for the presidential nomination with Abraham Lincoln for Vice-President, but early in that year Simon Cameron defeated the movement in the Pennsylvania Republi can Convention. Several votes, how
ever, were cast for him in the Chicago Convention, though he exerted all his in fluence in favor of Lincoln. He was the author of "Views on the Suspension of the Habeas Corpus" which became the basis of the law of March 3, 1863, authorizing the President to suspend the habeas corpus act. His opinions are found in 41 volumes of reports. The best known of his numerous published addresses include "Plan for the Admin istration of the Girard Trust" (1833) ; "The Law of Evidence" (1864) ; "Jeffer son Davis and His Complicity in the Assassination of Abraham Lincoln" (1866) ; etc. He died in Philadelphia, Pa., Nov. 29, 1874.