Page:Men of the Time, eleventh edition.djvu/934
Greeks as a nation. When the efforts of King George and his ministers were crowned with success, the unselfish labours of General Read were not overlooked. The newly-appointed Greek Minister to London was directed, while passing through Paris, to convey to him the thanks of his Government; and the King, who shortly afterwards visited that metropolis, called upon him to express His Majesty's personal thanks. In 1881, when the territories adjudged to Greece had been finally transferred, King George, in recognition of General Read's eminent services since his resignation of the post of United States Minister, created him a Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Redeemer—the highest dignity in the gift of the Greek Government—at the same time that His Majesty conferred a similar honour upon M. Waddington, Prime Minister of France, who had presented the Greek claims to the Berlin Congress, and upon Coumt Hatzfeldt, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Germany, who had successfully urged the same claims at Constantinople. He was named Honorary Member of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion in recognition of his eminent services to his country during the War of Secession. In addition to the works already mentioned he is the author of "Relation of the Soil to Plants and Animals," Albany, 1860; and "Letter upon the Death of Lord Stanhope," in Greek and English, Athens, 1875.
READE, Charles, D.C.L., youngest son of the late John Reade, Esq., born in 1814, was educated at Magdalen College, Oxford, of which he was successively a Demy and a Fellow. He graduated B.A. in 1835, was called to the bar at Lincoln's Inn in 1843, and became known to the reading public as the author of "Peg Woffington," published in 1852; and of "Christie Johnstone," in 1853. These were followed by "It is Never Too Late to Mend," and a short tale, entitled "The Course of True Love," in 1857; "Jack of All Trades," in 1858; "Love Me Little, Love Me Long," in 1859; "White Lies," and "Cloister and the Hearth," in 1861; "Hard Cash: a Matter-of-Fact Romance," in 1863; "Griffith Gaunt; or, Jealousy," in 1866; "Put Yourself in His Place," in 1870; and "A Terrible Temptation," in 1871. He has also written several plays, one of the latest being "Drink," founded on Zola's "L'Assommoir" (Princess's Theatre, June 2, 1879).
RECLUS, Jean Jacques Elisée, a French geographical writer, the son of a Protestant minister, was born at Sainte-Foy-la-Grande (Gironde), March 15, 1830, and educated in Rhenish Prussia. He studied at the Protestant College at Montauban, and then at the University of Berlin, where he was a pupil of K. Ritter's. Holding extreme democratic opinions, he left France after the coup d'état of Dec. 2, 1851, and travelled from 1852 to 1857 in England, Ireland, the United States, Central America, and New Granada, where he stayed several years. On his return to Paris he communicated to the Revue des Deux Mondes, the Tour du Monde, and other periodicals, the results of his voyages and geographical researches. M. Reclus is the author of "Guide à Londres," 1860; " Voyage à la Sierra Nevada de Saint-Marthe," 1861; "Les Villes d'Hiver de la Méditerranée et les Alpes-Maritimes," 1864; a very valuable introduction to the "Dictionnaire des Communes de la France," 1864, 2nd edit., 1869; and above all, "La Terre," a magnificent work on physical geography, the English edition of which, entitled "The Earth," has passed through two editions. Unfortunately M. Reclus did not confine himself to scientific studies, but wrote also in various socialist organs. When the insurrection of March 18, 1871, broke out, M. Reclus,