Evening journal. [volume] (Wilmington, Del.) 1888-1932, 1899-04-29
HISTORIC SOCIAL FRupr
Row Peggy O'NenI BLASTED the Pres
identfRl Ambitions OF John
@. Calhoun.

An exciting quarrel between a pres
ident and chieftain of his party began
soon after jackson went to the white |
house. In this feud Calhoun was the |
principal figure on the anti-Jackson |
side. The quarrel was melted by two
causes-Jackson's discovery that Cal
houn, who was secretary Of war in
Monroe's cabinet, was hostile to Jack
son during the Florida war, in Monroe's
days, and the refusal of the wife of
Calhoun and those Of the members Of
Jackson's cabinet in 1920 to recognize
Mrs. Eaton, wife Of JaclSson's secretary
of war, socially.
The origin of the social war which
changed factors in politics, and in
directly resulted in the formation Of
the wing party, was this;
John II. Eaton. a personal friend Of
Jackson, was appointed by Jackson
secretary of war; and took his seat in
the cabinet I'm March, 1929, on Jack
sons entrance into the white house.
Eaton a few months earlermarriedM Mrs
Timberlake, whose maiden name was
( Margaret J. O'Neill commonly called
| Peggy O'NeilD, n woman OF great
beauty, Of some omplishments, and
Of unbounded ambition. She was the
daughter of a Washington tavern keep
er. Gossip had been free with her
name during her welded life with
! Timberlal1e, and when, after Eaton's
marriage to her and the intelligence
! that he was to be q member Of the cab
met reached the public, some of Jack
sons friends told him that Eaton's en-
trance into the cabinet would cause
some embarrassment to the admins
| tration, Jackson, who was creditably
slow TO believe anything III of a wom-
an. responded that Mrs. Eaton was not
TO be in the cabinet. lie made il known
to his personal friends Immediately aft
er the administration began that he
desired that Mrs. Eaton should be ne
corded all the courtesies TO which her
station entitled her. The wife of Vice
| President Calhoun and the wives of
all the members Of the cabinet who
had any wives refused TO recognize
Mrs. Eaton. Jackson took up her cause
with the usual energy, and the question
entered politics. Van Buren,, the sec
rotary of state, had no wife (he was
widower). lie had no daughters. He
was thus free to extend to Mrs Eaton
the conventional courtesies, which he
did with the dignity and grace for
which he was noted.
This made Van Buren's political for
tune. There had been keen rivalry be
| tween Calhoun aud Van Buren, pre-
viously for the succession TO Jackson in
the presidency. The democratic par
ty was invncible, and the man who
got the presidential candidacy was GER
tain of election. Jackson was the par
tvs dictator. Calhoun by his position
as vice president and by his prom
inence in the party, was believed to
stand next in the line 10 Jackson. In
the first year or two of Jackson's term
Jacbson's feeble health was thought to
be a barrier in the way Of his accept
ance OF nomination for second term,
and Calhoun was popularity supposed 10
be his political heir. The discovery,
through the Crawford disclosures, of
the unfriendliness of Calhoun for Jack
son in 1918, in the Monroe cabinet and
the quarrel which the Mrs. Eaton in
cident brought, destroyed this hope.
Van Buren's championship OF Mrs.
Eaton's cnuse endeared him to jack
son.
Van Buren's call upon Mrs. Eaton at
her residence had mighty political con-
sequences. Like the shot Of the "em-
J battled farmers" at Concord bridge, the
sound Of the silver lSnocker touched at
Mrs. Eaton's door by Martin Van Buren,
was heard round the world or at least
o. round that part of the world com
prised in the United States. As result
Of the Peggy O'Neill war supplement
I ed in Calhoun's case by the Crawford
disclosures) Calhoun was shut out from
the presidency, was dwarfed from a ma
tional into a sectional figure, and his
brooding over his effacement probably
! assisted in melting that system of po'
q litical philosophy out Of which result
2 ed secession and civil war. Eaton and
c Van Buren, resigned in April, 1881, in
: order TO facilitate n general reconstruc'
ton of the cabinet which would free
e Jackson from the husbands of the wives
{ who had disregarded his Eaton ukase
especially of Ingham, secretary of the
y treasury; Branch, secretary of the
. navy, and Berrien, attorney general
e The country was convulsed, a large
p fragment Of the democratic party was
cast off and united with the elements
which founded the wing party three
r years later, and that party received {
n strength which il would not otherwise
s have gained at the outset.-St. Louis
y Globe-Democrat.
u An Uncomfortable Superstition.
S A very uncomfortable superstition
y prevails in the Minieh province. When
y ever. n rniOeon house Is 10 he made I'M