iam Pinkney Whyte, who entered the Senate the previous Congress
for a full term, had already served in that body for a brief period in
1868-69, succeeding Reverdy Johnson when he resigned to accept the
mission to England. In the interval between the close of his first
service and his second election he had served as Governor of Maryland.
He is a grandson of the eminent William Pinkney, who was a member of
the Senate at the time of his death, and who as an orator was
considered by Mr. Benton, Mr. Clay, and the younger men of that period,
as the most eloquent in the country. Mr. Pinkney Whyte held a
distinguished position at the bar of Maryland, was recognized as a
senator of great ability, and as a private gentleman was highly
esteemed without reference to party lines.

--Stanley Matthews took the seat made vacant by the transfer of Mr.
Sherman to the Treasury Department. His reputation as a lawyer was
well established. He had ben United-States District Attorney for three
years preceding the war. He commanded an Ohio regiment for two years
in the field and resigned to accept a position on the bench of the
Supreme Court. His legislative experience had been limited to a single
term in the Ohio Senate, and as the Democrats had carried Ohio in the
autumn of 1877 before he could take his seat, he saw before him a short
service in Congress. Within the limit of two years, however, he made
a profound impression upon his associates in the Senate. He proved
to be an admirable debater, and seemed intuitively to catch the style
of Parliamentary discussion as distinguished from an argument in court.
He left the Senate with an enlarged reputation, and with a valuable
addition to his list of personal friends.

--Simon Cameron from Pennsylvania resigned his seat in the spring of
1877. He had been four times elected to the body, and had twice
resigned, leaving his total service some eighteen years. He was in his
seventy-ninth year when he retired, but in exceptional vigor of body
and mind. He had the graces of age without its infirmities, and shared
the good will of his fellow senators on both sides of the chamber in
an exceptional degree. He was succeeded by his son, James Donald
Cameron, who up to that period had never been a member of any
legislative body and who was in this forty-fourth year when he took
his seat in the Senate. He was educated at Princeton and had indeed
devoted his life to business. During the last ye