Delaware State journal and statesman., 1866-06-05

| A@N1ANt@A
SECRETS, &c.
The recent remarkable elopement of an
Italian adventurer (who seven years ago
welded the widow of Gen. Eaton) with the
| granddaughter of his wife, has created
sensation in political and fashionable circles,
| both in this city and in Washington. II has
| also revived the public interest in the unfor-
tunate wife, who at one time may have been
said TO have controlled the fate OF the country
or at least to have been the chief cause of
| change in some of its most important politi-
cal relations. II will be therefore appropriate
at this present time to give resume of the
leading facts in the biography of the party in
this singular case'with whom the public ma
turally are most concerned, namely, Madam
Bourganani, formerly widely known as Mrs.
Gen. Eaton.
The father of this lady was a gentleman
OF wealth and position, and the lady herself
was possessed of great personal attractions,
| remains of which are visible even to this
day. She was well educated, and was gifted
with q singular fascination of manner, while
not the least important element in her char
aeter was strength of will, power of
fixed determination, which has sustained her
throughout all the yicissitudes other eyentful
career. In the height of her triumph as
| belle at Washington, she married a member
OF the Timberlake family, who was purser
in the United States Navy. The nuptials
were celebrated with eclat, and the father OF
the bride presented her with a well furnish
| cd house, (Which in after years passed into
the hands OF the Italian drawing master,
Bourganani) BY her first husband the lady
| had several children. Purser Timberlake
was an intimate personal friend of General
Eaton, and is said to have felt presentment
that his life was not destined to be of great
duration, and also to have expressed the
hope that, i'll the case of his decease, his
widow would unite herself to his friend.
After the death of Timberlake, Gen. Eaton,
in due course of time, forwarded an epistle
to the widow, expressing his sentiments of
admiration for her, having, as he expressed
| it, "k.own her and appreciated her alike as
daughter, wife and widow and desiring
permission TO visit her. The permission was
granted, nnd Mrs Timberlake became Mrs.
Gen Eaton.
Her second husband enjoying relations of
the closest intimacy with President Jackson,
his Wife in consequence assumed a high po-
sltion among the female notabilities of the
| National Capital. She was received in the
kindest manner by the President, and was
soon numbered among the circle of his most
priced acquaintances, while her husbands
position as Minister Of War still further tend
| ed to enhance alike her notoriety and her
| influence. According to the usual law which
| governs success in this world, Mrs. Eaton
| did not escape scandal. Rumor busted itself
with her name, Id President jackson him
self did not fail to receive his share of social
| gossip. The opposition newspapers of the
| day could not afford to dispense with such
excellent opportunity for sensational items,
and the stories which "linked ia wrong the
| President and Mrs. Eaton began to assume
a political significance.
| Calhoun, al that time, Vice President and
| President of the Senate, was bitterly opposed
I 60 Nl.s Il
and having failed to share the national conf
dence in his superior by attacks on the man
| ag ,ent of the Seminole war; looked around
him for more aveilable material. The Eaton
| scandal was accordingly skillfully, though
| delicately manipulated by him, and was
| brought into practical shape. With the
truth or falsehood of the scandal itself we
have naught to do; neither is II our province
! to undertake to decide what real credenoe
MIR. Calhoun in his own mind attached to the
| report Suffice it to record the facts. Mr..
Calhoun, through the "female eleiAentn in
Washington, and especially by his'in6uence
| with the wives of the various members of
the Cabinet, so arranged it that Mrs. Gen.
Eaton was socially ignored by the ladies of
tie Cabinet circle thus increasing the scan
dial, and calling to its internal personal dis
sensons the unfavorable attention of the
nation. President jackson, perceiving this
I
ter to Mr.. Calhoun, who replied by very
| diplomatic note, stating that the quarrel was
emphatically "ladies quarrel y with which
men could not successfully interfere; that
"the laws Of the ladies were like the laws of
the Medesand Persians, and admitted neither
of argument or alAendment;" with much
more in similar strain. On the receipt of
this epistle Gen. jackson at once determined
TO act. He accordingly sent for Mr.. Van
Buren,, then Secretary OF State, his political
iayorlte, and, explaining his views, request
ed him as personal favor to send in his
resignation. Mr.. Van Buren at once COM
piled with the rather singular request, ald of
course his resignation was Immediately fol-
lowed by that Of each and every member of
the Cabinet.
1t is stated that at one stage of the pro-
ceedlngs the President was willing to coiH-
prolLlse with the enemies of Mrs. Eaton,
Withdrawing any claim of his to the prioGte
social recognition of the lady, desiring only
her public recognition at receptions and great
occasions. But as this compromise was re-
lected, he acted as we have above stated.
And thus Mrs. General Eaton proved the
direct cause of the dissolution of Cabinet.
Directly subsequent to this event, the
President, who never forsook friend, ac-
credited Gen. Eaton as United States Minis
) ter to Madrid, and in brief period his wife,
J directing her social talents to the Old World,
: became almost as noted there as she had
already rendered herself in the new. She
| visited London and Paris, and finally settling
) at Madrid established herself as a decided
avorite Various anecdotes are recorded Of
, her stay in the Spanish Court, for only one
OF which we can find space. 1t seems tC
have been Spanish custom when wishing
to evince admiration for lady to proffer hei
some valuable present, merely as matter Of
form, the lady being presumed TO gratefully
decline the offer. Mrs Eaton was aware o.
I this custom and of its meaning-or rather o.
its want OF meaning-but, being fond of q
I joke, determined to avail herself of 1t, much
t TO the CONSERVATION of those who sought &c
1 compliment her. On one occasion, being
< requested to accept case of jewels, she re
4 piled that with the deepest gratitude she
, would do so, and forthwith ordered her at
: tendant to convey the jewels to her carriage
We can imagine the surprise and chagrin o
a the gallant presenter of the jewels aforesaid
a The diamonds were returned next day, bu
: no future opportunity was given to repea
c the jest. Mrs. Eaton is also stated to have
introduced the American custom of knitting
Il among the ladies of the Spanish Court. Bu
Y we must proceed TO more serious details.
= Gen. Eaton died, and his widow becamC
: the possessor of his large estate. She alst
n assumed the guardianship of four or five
: grandchildren, who were, by intermarriage
! closely connected with the Randolph famil,
c of Virginia One of these grandchildren
S occupies post in the marine service of thu
t United States. Another, and the youngest
is clerk III the retail establishment Of a. II
n Stewart, in New York city Another ha
i married colonel in the army, while thl
! fourth is one of the unfortunate victims o
# the arts of the Italian Bourganani. Thi
d Italian adventurer came to this country desti
..