The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1899-05-31
AN OLD SOCIAL FEUD.
A QUARREL THAT PLAYED A BIG PART
IN NATIONAL POLITICS.

An exciting quarrel between presi-
dent and chieftains of his party hogan
soon after jackson went to the White
House In this feud Calhoun was the
principal figure on the anti-Jnc!:son
side. The quarrel was melted bY two
causes-Jackson' discovery that Cal
houn. who was secretary Of war IL I.n-
rOe's cabinet. was hostile IT, .;ry..-.n
during the Florida WI, :. M.;~",-
days. and the refusal ot ~ III; :;'l
houn and those Of the inr:,t.-> .: !
sons cabinet in 1929 to r,cnsni:. .I:s
Eaton, wife of Jacksons secretary of
war, socially.
The origin of the social war which
changed factors in politics and indirect
ly resulted in the formation of the Wing
party was this
John Il Eaton, personal friend OF
jackson, was appointed by jackson
secretary of war and took his seat in the
cabinet in March. 1920, on Jackson's
entrance into the White House. Eaton
a few months earlier married Mrs. Tim.
berlake. whose maiden name was Mar.
garet L. O'Neill (comr My called Peg.
gy 'ONeilD. woman. great beauty,
bounded ambition.
She was the daughter Of Washing
t"n tavern keeper. Gossip had been
with her name during her welded
life with Timber1ake. and when. after
Eaton's marriage to her and the intelli-
genco that he was to be member Of
the cabinet reached the public. some of
Jackson's friends told him that Eaton's
entrance into the cabinet would cause
some embarrassment to the administers
tion.
jackson. who was creditably slow to
believe anything i'll Of a woman. re-
eponded that Mrs. Eaton was not to be
in the cabinet He made it known to
his, personal friends Immediately after
the administration began that he de-
sired that Mrs. Eaton should be accord
ed all the courtesies to which her sta
tion 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 his usual energy. and
the question entered politics. Van Bu-
rem, the secretary of state. had no wife
Che was widower). He had no daugh-
ters. 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 and Van Buren previous
~ for the succession to jackson in the
presidency. The Democratic party was
invincible, and the man who got the
presidential candidacy was certain of
election. Jackson was the party's die
tator. Calhoun, by his position as vice
president and by his prominence in the
party, was popularity believed to stand
next in line to jackson
In the first year or two of Jackson's
first term Jackson's feeble health was
thought to be barrier in the way Of
his acceptance of nomination for
second term. and Calhoun was popular
ly supposed to be his political heir: The
discovery. through the Crawford dis
closures, Of the unfriendiiness or Cal
houn for Jackson in 1919, IN the Mon
roe cabinet, and the quarrel which the
Mrs Eaton incident brought, destroyed
this hope. Van Buren's championship
Of Mrs. Eaton's cause endeared him to
Jackson.
Van Buren's call upon Mrs. Eaton at
her residence had mighty political con-
sequences. Like the shot Of the "embat-
tied farmers at Concord bridge, the
sound Of the silver knocker touched at
Mrs. Eaton door by Martin Van Buren,
was heard round the world, or at least
round that part Of the world comprised
in the United States.
AS result Of the Peggy O'Neill war
(supplemented in Calhoun's case by the
Crawford disclosures) Calhoun was shut
out from the presidency, was dwarfed
from national into a sectional figure,
and his brooding over his effacement
probably assisted in melting that sys-
tenn Of political philosophy out Of which
resulted secession and civil war.
Eaton and Van Buren, resigned in
April. 1881. in order to facilitate
general reconstruction Of the cabinet
which would free Jackson from the
husbands of the wives who had disre-
garded his Eaton especially of
Ingham. secretary Of the treasury;
Branch. secretary of the navy. and
Berrien, attorney general
The country was convulsed, large
fragment of the Democratic party was
cast off and united with the elements
which founded the Whig party, three
years later. and th-t party received q
strength which it would not otherwise
have gained at the outset. st Louis
Globe-Democrat
How Webster Evaded the Question.
Ct. F. Seward, formerly United States
consul general at Shanghai and minis.
ter at Peking. tells the following anus
ing story Of Shanghai in the good old
days:
"A predecessor of mine at Shanghai,
having on his hands 100 or more re-
fractory sailors and no prison, sent the
whole lot to the native governor to be
confined. They staid there a little
while and then marched ont Of the pris-
on and down the river road in front of
the consul's Office, each one bearing on
his shoulder pole which he had taken
out Of the prison stockade. The consul |