REID, Whitelaw, American diplomat: b. Xenia, Ohio, 27 Oct. 1837; d. London, England, 15 Dec. 1912. He was graduated from Miami University in 1856; and began his journalistic career as editor of the Xenia News, in 1858-59. In 1860 he became a reporter for the Cincinnati Gazette, in 1861-62 was war correspondent, and later Washington correspondent for the same paper, the bnlliancy and accuracy of his war reports attracting considerable attention among newspaper men. He was aide-de-camp on the staff of General Morris and General Rosecrans in West Virginia. In 1863-66 he was librarian of the House of Representatives and after the war spent some time on a cotton plantation in Concordia Parish, La. In 1868 he joined the editorial staff of the New York Tribune; in 1869 became managing editor and in 1872 edi Under his management the Trib uhe came to rank among the leading papers of the city in the trustworthiness of its news re ports. He twice declined an appointment as Minister to Germany, • was Minister to France in 1889-92 and negotiated important reciprocity treaties, and in 1892 was the unsuccessful Re publican candidate for Vice-President. He was the Special Ambassdor from the United States to Queen Victoria's jubilee in 1897; was a mem ber of the American-Spanish Peace Commis sion in Paris in 1898; and was Special Ambas sador at the coronation of Edward VII in 1902.
In April 1905 he was appointed Ambassador to the Court of Saint James, to succeed Joseph H. Choate. and held that post till his death. He had been a regent of the University of New York since 1878. His notable publications in clude 'After the War, a Southern Tour' (1867); 'Ohio in the War' (1868), an import ant contribution to the locaj history of the State; 'Schools of Journalism' (1870); 'The Scholar in Politics' (1873) ; 'Newspaper Tend encies' (1874); 'Town Hall Suggestions) (1881) ; 'Two Speeches at the Queen's Jubilee' (1897); 'Some Consequences of the Late Treaty of Paris' (1899) •, 'Our New Duties> (1899); 'A Continental Union' (1900) ; 'Our New Interests' (1900) ; and 'Problems of Ex pansion' (1900). He wrote the introduction for the centennial edition of Thackeray's 'Van ity Fair' in 1908 and was one of the speakers at the English celebration of the centenary of Dickens' birth. In English history, his address on Edmund Burke has been pronounced his most important study.