PMCS 33 TO 40
PART FOUR
NO. 18.
PORTLAND, OREGON, SUNDAY MORNING, &TAY 3, 1J.03.
VOL. XXII
ANDKEW JA6KSON ANT) JOHN CALHOUN
THEIR FAMOUS QUARREL, PEGGY EATON'S m
SHARE IN IT AND THE MOMENTOUS HISTORICAL CONSEQUENCES,
BY EDWARD L. VALLANDINGHAM.
Commecclns -with the May Issue. Pearson's '
Magazine trill publish a series of true historical
etorles ot political significance. There, to any
one- interested In the history ot our country,
will be of particular value. The series will. In
clude "The Plot to Kidnap Lincoln." "Clement
X,. Vallandlgham's Banishment from the United
Stales." and "How Southern Influence- Nomi
nated a Comparatively Obscure Man Over Van
Buren In 1844." The stories are. nonpartisan
and nonfactlonal. and will prove of Intense
Interest to every American reader. The first
of the series describing the famous auarrel
between Jackson and Calhoun is published
herewith, by special arrangement with Pear-eon's.
F THE many quarrels In the history
of American politics none Is more
T,oatriTin1 and interesting than
thn.t of Andrew Jackson and John Cal-
"houn. This quarrel was 12 years a-brew-lng.
and at any moment during that pe
riod a -word might have brought about
the explosion. Had tho quarrel been pre
cipitated a few .years earlier Its conse
,ns mleht have been very different;
3iad it been delayed until the end of Jack
son's second term it might havo had no
Klenlflcance In the history of the
time. Closely connected with the hatreds
of the two powerful Southerners was the
social ostracism of the unfortunate
Eaton, and incident to tho quarrel was
one of those puzzling questions of ve
racity which have again and again bat
hed the historian of our pouues.
Andrew Jackson had won so much fame
tby his exploits In the War of .1812 .and
as an Indian lighter that Monroe, on
"first taking office as President, is believed
to have offered to make him Secretary of
"War, a-n. office that Jackson, like' Clay,
declined. The place was eventually given
to Calhoun, then a young and ambitious
man eager for the Presidency. Another
member of Monroe's Cabinet was an old
enemy of Jackson's, "William H. Craw
ford, of Georgia, who, as a member of
the preceding Administration, had com
mitted the unpardonable sin of modifying
a treaty which Jackson had made -with
on Indian tribe. Jackson had a further
grievance in that orders had been issued
over his head in his own department.
Calhoun, as Secretary of War, became
the official superior of Jackson, and at
once flattered the General by acceding to
Ws proper demand that no orders should
be issued in his department save such as
went through him as commander.
The Administration had inherited, along
with the preceding Administration's fric
tion with Jackson, the Seminole- war.
This trouble was in effect an outgrowth
of the War of 1S12. for the British had
occupied for a time the Spanish territory
of Florida, had stirred the Indians and
many runaway slaves to war against us,
and, on withdrawing from Florida, had
left these Irregular allies in a turbulent
condition When in December, 1817, Gen-
eral B. P. Gaines, who bad been prosecut
ing the Seminole war, was assigned to
other duty in parts adjacent to the scene
of conflict, Jackson was ordered Into
Southern Georgia with the hope that he
would soon quell the disturbers of the
border.
The Attnclc on. Florida.
Jackson on receiving the order to take
command knew the nature of the instruc
tions Issued to Gaines that he should, If
need be, pursue tho enemy into Spanish
territory, but, in case tho enemy took
refuge in a Spanish fort, should cease
pursuit and await instructions from Wash
ington. Before receiving his own Instruc
tions, Jackson wrote to Monroe protest
ing against any sucn restrictions as had
been imposed upon Gaines, and offering
within 60 days to place Florida in the
possession of the "United States if the
President would indicate a desire for such
result, through some safe channel, as. for
example, Jackson's friend and satellite.
Congressman John Rhea, of Tennessee.
Jackson, who was at this time at his home.
tho Hermitage, near Nashville, set off for
his command, bearing with him from Cal
houn instructions similar to those issued
to Gaines, and without having received
any reply to his letter offering to seize
Florida. According to a paper partly in
Jackson's handwriting but mainly in that
of a clerk, which paper was found by
Benton some years after the General's
death, Jackson did receive from Rhea on
his way southward a letter assuring him
of the President's acquiescence in the
plan to seize Florida as a guarantee for
the payment of proper indemnity for
wrong done to American citizens by
Spain. Of course this meant permanent
occupation. As will be seen later. Monroe
always denied having approved of Jack
son's plan. But whatever Rhea may or
may not have done, either with or with
out authorization, Jackson acted exactly
as if the President had connived at his
proposal. He entered Spanish territory in
pursuit of the foe, captured St Mark's,
where the Indians had taken refuge, drove
the Spanish authorities from their most
important post, Pensacola, instructed
Gaines In a certain contingency to seize
St. Augustine, and caused the sentence of
death to be executed upon Alexander Ar
buthnot and Robert Ambrlster, British
subjects, tho former on the charge of
communicating American plans to the In
dians, tho latter on the charge of Incit
ing them to act against our authority.
However arbitrary, insubordinate and
defiant of International law and of the in
structlon of his own Government the con
.duct of Jackson may appear on the sur
face, he certainly had reason to suppose
that tho Government at Washington se
cretly sanctioned his courso for, even if
we are to believe that Rhea had no au
thority to speak for Monroe, or even that
Rhea never sent a letter proffsslng to
give Monroe's approval of the plan to
seize Florida, the silence of the adminis
tration touching a project which it might
be convenient to have executed, but equal
ly convenient to disavow, was exactly
what a general would naturally expect.
The trick was a familiar one to European
diplomacy, and Jackson, who had no scru
pies where the Spaniards were concerned,
mlsht easily have supposed that Monroe
was equally unscrupulous.
Monroe Wax Ignorant
Moved perhaps by a letter In a news
paper charging the connivance of the ad
ministration, Monroe wrote to Jackson ex
plaining that the letter proposing the
seizure of Florida reached him as he lay
sick, and was not read by him at the
time, nor till after the seizure of Pen
sacola, having been laid aside and . for
gotten. Monroe, indeed, as he lay on his
elck bed. had handed the letter to Cal
houn, then Secretary of War, and he,
after having read it, had said that it re
quired an answer at the hands of the
President: but the latter was satisfied
with Calhoun's assurance that the in
structions of Gaines had been Issued to
Jackson.
In other words, the Secretary of War,
knowing the headstrong and headlong
character of Jackson, had rested content
r -with the Instructions Issued to him, al-
though the General had proposed, before
ANDREW JACKS OX.
receiving definite Instructions, to do the
very thing that Gaines had been told not
to do, and to go further and involve the
administration in scandal and possible
war.
Monroe again. In 1S2T, denied in a letter
to Calhoun that he had ever authorized
Rhea to announce to Jackson the approval
of his plans with reference to Florida, and
he made like denial in 1831. under pecu
liarly solemn and painful circumstances.
Monroe was an almost dying man. and in
fact, within a few weeks of his death. In
the Spring of 1S31 at the house of his son-in-law
in New York City, when there came
addressed to him a" letter from Rhea. This
letter was opened by the son-in-law, and
found to be a circumstantial renewal of
the charge that Monroe had authorized
Rhea to communicate approval of Jack
son's proposal for the seizure of Florida,
with the additional charge that Monroe
had requested Rhea .in the Spring of 1819
to beg of Jackson that he burn the letter
communicating xne message, mu it
quest or his son-in-law, Monroe then made
affidavit denying the charges, -i.no paper
discovered by Benton in a chest or jacK
son's recited the whole story, including
the reauest that the letter be burned, ana
opposite the copy of Jackson's letter mak-
lnsr tho nroooeal touching iionaa was
written a note to the effect that Rhea's
letter In reply had been burned.
Who Told the TrntU?
Historians, face to face with an ap
parent question of veracity between two
ex-Presidents of the united States, notn
reputed honorable men. have looked about
them for some way out of the difficulty.
Some have supposed that Jackson's mem-
nrv was at fault in 1S31. when he is be
lieved to have prepared the statement that
declared Rhea's letter to have seen re
ceived. Others save the reputations of the
two ex-Prcsldents at the expense or poor
Rhea's, who seems to have been a person
of email consideration, and who. it Is con
tended, may have assumed in his letter to
Jackson an authority that Monroe never
gave him. This theory wouia explain
Rhea's anxiety to have the letter de
stroyed, and if he had lied In the first
place In pretending to write oy aumomy,
he would of course have lied In the sec
ond place as to the source whence came
the request that JacKeon Durn ine leiier.
it is lust Dosslble. as one nistorian sug
gests, that yet unpublished papers of
Jackson's may throw further light on the
subject.
While Jackson was pursuing nis neaa-
long course In Florida, Adams as Secreta
ry or state was necowu.i.iiiB wuu uib
Spanish Minister for the purchase of that
region. Spain made angry proicsi against
Jackson's conduct, and the negotiations
were for the moment broken off. Adams,
however, in his diplomatic correspondence
with the Spanish authorities ardently de
fended Jackson's conduct as a necessity of
the war. As for the Monroe administra
tion, it disavowed the conduct of JacK-
son, countermanded tne oraer to uaines
for the seizure of St. Augustine and or
dered the restoration of the places seized
by Jackson.
Political Attnclts on Jackson.
At this Juncture Adams was Jackson's
best friend in the cabinet. Calhoun once
angrily urged that a court of inquiry
should bo ordered in the matter, but tho
cabinet finally decided upon the disavow
al, and as far as possible the reversal ot
Jackson's acts, and tho President ad
dressed to him a mild caution. Jackson
does not seem at this time to have taken
refuge behind the tacit acquiescence of
the administration In his proposal for the
seizure of Florida, but la this his conduct
is easily explained upon the theory that
he did not wish to embarrass the admin
istration at a moment when the publica
tion of the fact of his having made the
suggestion unrebuked might have led to
war, or at least have mado the acquisi
tion of Florida Impossible.
Some men In Congress, not content with
the rebuke administered to Jackson in the
have had some suspicions that Calhoun
was not true to him in this contest, but
there was no interruption of their friendly
cused him from any obligation of special
frankness toward Jackson.
Jackson called to his Cabinet three men
who were recognized as representing the
Calhoun Interest, but he chose as Secre
tary of State Martin Van Buren, the most
adroit politician among tho conspicuous
nubile men of the day. and a man as
', eagerly ambitious of the Presidency as
! Calhoun himself. Luckily for Van Buren
j and unluckily for Calhoun, Jackson called
! to his Cabinet as Secretary of War his
j friend, John H. Eaton, who had Just mar
i ried the widow of one Timberlake, a naval
officer.
J Now Timberlake had recently died by
; his own hand, and the gossips had it that
! his suicide had been the result of Eaton's
. scandalous attentions to Mrs. Timberlake.
The lady herself had been Peggy O'Nell,
! daughter of a Washington tavern-keeper
at whose House iaton nad uvea, bno
was a handsome and fascinating girl,
with somewhat unconventional manners
and abundant self-confidence born of a
knowledge that she had the gift of pleas
ing men. In the absence of her husband
on sea duty she whilcd away the dull
hours of an unofficial Washington exist
ence by amusing herself with Eaton.
Washington was a little city then, and
the flirtation of Mrs. Timberlake and
Eaton, If such, indeed, it amounted to.
was known to the whole town. When Ea
ton told Jackson of his Intended marriage,
the chivalrous old soldier applauded it
as forever giving a quietus to. evil gossip.
When Eaton entered the Cabinet, how
ever, gossip broke out more fiercely than
ever, and official society at Washington
immediately set itself like flint against
Mrs. Eaton. Jackson had been warned
that such would be the outcome of Ea
ton's appointment, but had pooh-poohed
tho idea that so trivial a matter could
trouble the peace of his Administration.
When he found that the warning had been j
luuuutru in iuueuii, iiv feaumiLij i;twiiu lu
the rescue of Mrs. Eaton. Jackson's bit
terest enemies always acknowledged his.
chivalrous 'regard for women, and at this
time the General was peculiarly ready to
come to the aid of any slandered woman,
for his own wife had recently died, and it
was said that her death had been hastened
by the scandalous attacks upon her rep
utation made by her husband's political
enemies. The truth is. that Jackson had
married her when he and she both be
lieved, upon misinformation, that she had
been legally divorced from a brutally cruel
husband. The mistake was corrected by
relations, and Jackson still believed mat rnnd eeremonv. but the nolltlenl blt-
Calhoun had stood his friend in the Cab- terness of that period did not stop at
inet of Monroe arter tne seminoie war.
Calhoun lent all his influence as Vice
President against the Administration of
Adams, and thus "become a member of
the Democratic party, organized toward
the middle of that Administration by the
so-called Jackson men and some others.
grossly misrepresenting the facts In the
case.
Jackson's; One Defeat.
Smarting from his own wounds, Jack
son determined that Mrs. Eaton's injured
reputation should be fully vindicated. Ac-
Jackson figured throughout the Adams j cordingly he asked the members of the
Administration as an injured claimant, t Cabinet to see to it that their wives called
and was recognized most of the time as j upon Mrs. Eaton and made her a part of
tho inevitable candidate of his party for
President in 1S2S. He was duly elected
over Adams In that year, and Calhoun a
second time became Vice-President.
The Pe;rjry Eaton Scandal.
Calhoun's situation now was ono of
great delicacy. He intensely desired the
Presidency, and ho knew thafupon the
good willoJacksonJ,depend&d.' liv'large
measure the possibility of his obtaining
the office. His wish was that Jackson
should not seek a second election, for es
tablished precedent restricted the Vice-
President to two terms in office, and Cal
houn feared that once out of the second
place it would be difficult for him to ob
tain the first. It was understood when
Jackson was elected that he would not
ask a second term; but Calhoun, know
ing the temptations of ambition, feared
that this resolution would not hold. At
the same time Calhoun, although con
scious of having acted from a sense of
duty in the matter of Jackson's conduct
of the Seminole War, must have been un
easy, knowing Jackson's inability to dis
tinguish between intellectual disagree
ment and personal enmity. In the knowl
edge that the disappointed and revenge
ful Crawford held the secret of the pro
posal to subject Jackson to a court of in
quiry. Of course, Calhoun's personal se
cret was In this case also a Cabinet se
cret, a fact that may be said to have ex-
JOHX C. CAIiHOUX.
official society. To this request the sec
retaries, more anxious for their domestic
tranquillity than for the favor of their
chief, responded that in all social matters
their wives were supreme. Jackson raged
in vain. He threatened to send home the
Dutch Minister because his wife would not
sit beside Mrs. Eaton.
- A nail and supper at the British Min-
lera-"at which. Mxs.Eaton had; been ig
nored by all the ladles, was followed by
another given by the Russian Minister.
Mr. Van Buren made an earnest appeal in
her own tongue to Mrs. Huygens. the
wife of the Minister from Holland, to con
sent to be Introduced to Mrs. Eaton. Mrs.
Huygens, however, refused. When sup
per was announced, she was Informed by
the host tha't Colonel Eaton would con
duct her to the table. She declined and
remonstrated, but In the meantime Colo
nel Eaton advanced to offer his arm. To
relieve him from his embarrassment she
walked with him to the table, where she
found Mrs. Eaton. seated at tho head be
side an empty chair for herself. Mrs.
Huygens, perceiving the situation at a
glance, took her husband's arm and with
drew from the room.
Jackson encountered rebellion even in
his own household, for his niece, acting as
"lady of the White House," also snubbed
Mrs. Eaton, and In consequence was ex
iled for a time to Tennessee. Mrs. Cal
houn was one of the most severe of all
the ladies of officialdom upon Mrs. Eaton.
and Calhoun, powerless over his wife, j
suffered a portion of Jackson's wrath.
The hero In the end failed, for Mrs.
Eaton was not officially recognized by the
ladles of the Cabinet, and Jackson, who
never quailed before men, had tacitly to
acknowledged himself defeated by the
women. He recalled his banished niece,
and contented himself, so long as Eaton
remained in the Cabinet, with being per
sonally polite to Mrs. Eaton.
Dlsnf?reement Over the Tariff.
In the midst of this tempest in the social
teapot. Van Buren arrived at his post of
duty a month late. He was a widower,
without daughters, so that there was no
question of family discipline to embarrass
him or to disturb his domestic tranquil
lity. He lost no time In calling upon Mrs.
Eaton, and he showed her many flattering
attentions. There was no reason in mor
als or in politics why he should not do
this. And the effect ot his politeness was
to.commend, hlm-at-once to; the.gooa will
of Jackson. Thus, when the Administra
tion was only Just warm In its place,
Calhoun's most dangerous rival had
gained a marked advantage with the man
who would either be or make the next
President.
Jackson gradually came to believe that
the attitude of official society toward Mrs.
Eaton was part of a plan to force Eaton
out ot the Cabinet. Calhoun and Cal
houn's supporters had opposed the ap
pointment of Eaton, and Calhoun's repre
sentatives in the Cabinet were, soon at
odds with the Secretary of War, so that
Jackson was made extremely uncomfort
able In his relations with his official fam
ily. All this tended to estrange him from
Calhoun, though apparently the Summer
of 1829 passed without any Interruption
of their friendly relations, and without
absolute distrust on the part of Jackson.
Meanwhile another cause ot disagree
ment was brewing between Jackson and
Calhoun. From being a moderate protec
tionist In the years immediately follow
ing the War of 1812. Calhoun bad now be
come in effect a free-trader. The truth
is that the slaveholdlng South almost a3
a whole, as well as thousands , of persons
engaged In unprotected Industries In the
North, did not directly profit by the pro
tective tariff, and felt it mainly in the In
creased price of protected articles. The
tariff of 1S24 was the first in which there
was an attempt actually to make the
ford for revealing the secrets of the Cabi
net. Jackson, who believed that Calhoun had
given him positive assurance of approval
in the Seminole War, accepted Calhoun's
letter as a confession of treachery! anQ
sent him a coldly dignified reply, in ef
fect declaring their acquaintance at an
end. Calhoun wrote another letter to
Jackson, but In vain, and then made
ready an 'attack upon him. which did not
appear, however, until March of the fol
lowing year. Some months before Jack
son had designated Van Buren his po
litical heir.
Forced Oat of tne Cabinet.
It was about this time that Jackson got
rid of the Calhoun men in his Cabinet,
though in doing so he was forced to re
organize almost the whole body Van
Buren set the example by resigning, on
the ground that a candidate for the Presi
dency ought not to remain In the cabi
net. Jackson sent Eaton to Florida as
Governor, and made Van Buren Minister
to England, though Calhoun and his
friends defeated the confirmation of tho
nomination after Van Buren had sailed
for his post. There were more than
enough votes to defeat the confirmation,
but one or more of Calhoun's friends ab
stained from voting in order that Cal
houn, who believed that Van Burcn's
machinations had brought about the
break with Jackson, might give the cast
ing vote against his enemy. Calhoun be
lieved that in casting that vote he
wrecked the political future of Van Buren.
for he said with a sardonic smile: "It
will kill him dead. sir. kill him dead:
he'll never kick. sir. never kick." It
was now that the whole story of Peggy
Eaton and her ostracism from official so
ciety for the first time came out in the
newspapers, so well had the secrets of the
Administration and Its enemies been kept.
4. Compromise.
Nullification was still gathering strength.
and when the tariff of 1832, designed to
conciliate the South, proved strongly pro
tective. South Carolina proceeded to ex
tremities. It Is not necessary to tell the
story of nullification here. Jackson met it
with all the power he had. and asked
more of Congress. But the affdlr was not
quite the signal triumph for Jackson and
Federal supremacy that it is usually con
ceived In the popular mind to have Been.
The nulllflers mustered enough friends in
Congress to prevent the passage of the
measure granting the powers Jackson de
sired, before a compromise tariff, grant
ing almost all tnat boutn tjarouna ae
manded, "had been passed; so that Clay In
his eagerness to save as long as possible
a remnant of the protective system and
perhaps to further his own Interests, en-
ratps nrnhibitive uoon the Importation of
many foreign manufactures, and the tariff abied the nulllflers to boast that nullifl
of 1S2S. known as the "tariff of abomina- I cati0n was a good doctrine, since It had
tinns was so badlv drawn in an attempt
to extend the protective principle to the
raw materials of the growing west, as
well as to the Eastern goods, that it was
even more disliked at the South than that
of 1S24.
Shortly before the inauguration of Jack
son. Calhoun had put forth the "South
Carolina Exposition," protesting against
the tariff, and arguing for the doctrine or
nullification, but expressing the hope that.
accomplished the object for which it had
been invoked. On, the other hand, when
the extreme theory of state rights again
found expression In solemn public fash
Ion, It took the form, not of nullification
but of secession.
Too many historians of this period have
approached It in a splflt of hostility to
the chief actors. It is the fashion to rep
resent Jackson as a crude barbarian, made
President by the accident of his perform-
wlth the comint to power of the Jackson I .., t New Orleansr and the charge was
Administration, the wrong might be right- J made of bargain and sale in the election
HOW TO FIGHT TYPHUS AND TYPHOID FEVER
BY PROFESSOR DR. ROBERT KOCH
HILE possessing only unprofes
sional reports those of the dally
press respecting the recent ty
phoid epidemics in the United States, I do
not hesitate to say that in numerous cases
cited the word typhus should have been
substituted for the term of typhoid.
This article being Intended for laymen,
it cannot be my purpose to discuss the
two diseases scientifically. I will, on the
contrary, endeavor to bring forward only
such arguments that appeal directly to
everybody's understanding.
Above all, which is typh fevers' favor
ite stamping grounds? City or country?
Every newspaper reader with a memory
will answer the country districts, and If
he has access to medical statistics, he will
find that the mortality from typh fevers
and the frequency of their occurrence In
cities havo decreased steadily during the
last 10 or 15 years.
Why are city people less subjected to
these deadly diseases? Because sewage,
plenty of hot and cold water, and facil
ities for bathing make them cleaner than
the average country folks.
If a typh fever epidemic Is reported from,
a modern city look at the map of the
place. You will find the hotbed of the
disease either in the oldest quarters, hav
ing antiquated or inadequate sewerage
and water supply, or in the suburbs add-
There is nothing fundamentally new In
the above, yet I deemed it proper to
Insist -upon the old truths once to com
plete the series of advice I am asxed to
give, and again because long-continued
experiments havo convinced me of their
correctness and Importance. At the same
time they help to explain why typh
fevers are more frequent in tho "country
districts than in the cities, or at least in
well-regulated cities.
Now to an observation which is entire
ly new. I have found that typh fever
epidemics are often artificially created
by the unwarranted notion that the dis
ease Is not necessarily contagious, a
false idea, not only held by laymen and
the ignorant generally, but even by doc
tors, some of whom do not hesitate to
distribute typh fever patients in the gen
eral wards of hospitals.
I I warn everyhody tnat typnus, as wen
as typhoid. Is communicated from man
to man. that it is highly contagious as
contagious as cholera, for instance.
Typhus and typhoid can be restricted
and fought by the public health authori
ties and henceforth must be subjected to
the rules and regulations that apply to
cases of cholera and malaria.
I spent three months In the typhus
and typhoid districts about Treves. Ger
many, where unimproved towns and vill
ages were alike affected with deadly re
sults. When I went there as Govern
ment Commissioner I prepared statistics
about each fever-etrlcken household In
order to keep track of the disease. In
ed to the town for political reasons, but
disavowal of his acts, made a vain at- ! " , tl , ' , ,. this way I learned that one case was
tempt to censure his conduct, perhaps m " majom i or0Dajrated by another despite ordinary
with tho hope of injuring his prospects as "waiting" for sewerage. In the meanwhile 1 n ttiS nne Person
a candidate for the Presidency. If such getting along with cesspools, whereby sanitary precautions. First one person
worn really the obiect of Jackson's ene- nnr- rnripr everv other ' sickened, two or three weeks later a
mles. they greatly overreached themselves, j househoIders premises dangerous for this j second, again a few weeks a third, etc- I serve whether It wodld or it would not
reason: The typh fevers' specific poison
ever were observed and whole households
and schools were Infected, sometimes long
after the little sufferers had gotten over
their indisposition.
If readers will ponder on the above and
live up to the simple maxims laid down,
American physicians the brightest body
of professional men In the world will do
the rest. In conclusion, let me state brief
ly how the population of the Treves dis
trict was saved from being decimated by
the typhus and typhoid epidemic. The
methods first introduced there, and the
good results had may easily be duplicated
in any afflicted community the world over.
No less than seven small towns and vil
lages were afflicted, the number of pa
tients being over 300 at the time when the
government took the matter in hand
Previous to that, 125 persons had died of
typhoid ortyphus in that district.
I found 32 persons ill to the death and
removed them at once to a barracks lazar
etto, set up on the hill outside the Infected
district. As a matter of course the soil
conditions about the lazaretto had been
fully Investigated and were satisfactory
In every way.
The sick peoples; left ln the houses were
completely Isolated by trained nurses,
Sisters of Charity, and a dlslnfector was
appointed for every two afflicted houses
The treatment was the usual one, but
the additional precaution taken saved the
lives of every one of our typhoid and ty
i phus patients; not a single man, woman,
or child died, while Defore that every
third patient had succumbed to the dis
ease, r
Isolation did more; within three months
the epidemic was completely stamped out.
but we remained six weeks longer to bb
ed-.wlthout. recourse on the part of South
Carolina to any unusual action. Jack-r
son's first message, however, that of De
cember, 1S29, disappointed Calhoun and the
South In that it failed to demand a sweep
ing reduction of the tariff.
Cnlhonn'R Nullification Doctrine,
The nullification sentiment continued to
grow, and It was the celebration of Jeffer
on's birthday by a public dinner In
April. 1S30. that the nulllfiers seized upon
to give a semiofficial expression to their
doctrine. The toasts for the occasion
were announced in advance, and when
Jackson read them he saw that the tone
of them all was favorable to nullification.
and that the attempt would be made to
place the fatherhood of the doctrine upon
Jefferson. He accordingly made a mem
orandum of a toast that he should pro
pose at the close of the regular toasts,
The Dlan of the nulllflers was carried out.
and so was Jackson's plan, for when he
was asked to give a toast, what he gave
was this: "Our Federal union: it must be
preserved." The nulllflers were for a mo
ment confused, but Calhoun soon rose
and proposed this toast: "The Union:
next to our liberty most dear; may we
all remember that It can only be pre
served by respecting the rights of the
states, and distributing equally the benefit
and burden of the Lnlon.
The effect of this encounter was to make
it plain to those present that the Presl
dent and the Vice-President were no long
er friends, and that any attempt at nulll
flcation In South Carolina would probably
meet with repression at the hands of
Jackson. The truth is that JacKson now
had something tangible upon which to
hang his distrust of Calhoun. Jackson had
about him at this time a group or cronies
whom he consulted confidentially, and
trusted as he- did not trust his official ad
visers. So notorious. Indeed, was the In
fluence of these men that they came to
be known as the "Kitchen Cabinet." One
of tho group, the astute Major William
B. Lewis, who had managed Jackson's
political campaign and written many of
his -political letters, had for a long time
suspected, and for two years had posi
tively known, that Calhoun had not Deen
the defender of Jackson In the Monroe
Cabinet at the time of the Seminole War.
James A Hamilton, commissioned ny
Jackson early In 182S to arrange a recon
ciliation with Crawford, had obtained
from Governor Forsyth, of Georgia, a let
ter setting forth the fact that it was not
Crawford but Calhoun who had proposed
tn nunlsh Jackson for his conduct in
Florida.
Calhoun's Treachery.'
Major Xewis saw this letter In April,
182S. but did not tell Jackson of it lest the
for, in spite or much intemperate lan
miage on the part of Jackson and of his
threats to cut oft the ears of troublesome
Congressmen, tho long discussion of his
case greatly Increased his popularity. In
the midst of the affair, he made a sort of
triumphal progress through several cities
of the East, and was received with an
enthusiasm that boded no good to his de
tractors. In the election of 1824. Calhoun was
chosen Vice-President by a large major
ity of the electoral college, and Adams
President by tho 'House of Representa
tives, after an exciting contest in which,
for the second time in our history, the
charge was made that a President had
been chosen by virtue of a corrupt bar
gain. Jackson, who had the highest vote
for President in the electoral college, for
the rest of his life distrusted and hated
Adams and Clay as the authors of the
supposed bargain by means ot which he
.thought hinwlf robbed He Is said to
generates In the living human body, the
discharges of which preserve the germs
of the disease. Such will rise out ot the
cesspools through atmospheric or other
agencies, or during the cleansing process,
by overflowing or by Impregnating the
neighboring soil. The germ is hardy and
whenever It enters- a lhing body the dis
ease is communicated.
If you live In an improved section, where
at some former time cesspools flourished,
avoid well water. The soil Is liable to
carry the disease Into the wells. If you
notice any defects In your sewer, leave the
premises until the same is attended to,
for the virus of typh, fevers may vitiate
the air you breathe. An Ill-trapped water
closet or privy should be condemned at
once as a breeder of typh fever germs.
perfect chain. The disease was com
municated by Inhaling the patient's
breath, by a handshake, by wiping "bis
brow, by washing his linen in the same
tub with the rest of the people's, etc
raise its head again. That. was so much
time wasted. I am happy to say
No patient was sent away from the
hospital or released from isolation in the
house unless his discharges had proved
Whenever a typhus or typhoid epidemic free from typhus by three successive bac
breaks out the water supply is blamed, teriologlcal Investigations. At the end of
and there is usually excellent cause for j three months there was not a single typh
doing so, but in the majority of cases
people's unclean habits, negligence, and
downright contempt for scientific rules
and regulations are no less blam'eable.
In the Treves district I likewise ob
served that small children often -suffer
from typo fevers in mild form so as not
to be obliged to take to their bed, the
illness passing for a simple -diarrhea,
I found over 100 such cases where par
ents had neglected to call In a physician.
As a coneequeace, so precautions what-
ofUS2-t. As aTmatter ot fact Jackson was
rp-ene-nlzptl as n. leader" wherever he ap
peared. He was Judge an Senator be
fore he had distinguished nimseir greauy
as a soldier. With all his faults, he was
a man of power and of genuine patriotism.
It is customary, also, to represent this
courageous, seir-connaenr, sirong-winea
man as the mere tool of his "kitchen Cab
inet," a body ot cunning politicians who
are supposed to have ruled the country
without showing" themselves to the pumic
This theory is equally at variance with
his character. Lewis, a man of almost
superhuman forethought, did influence
Jackson, but even in the Florida affair
Lewis found It difficult to shake his faith
in Calhoun.
Another specious theory of those who
underrate both Calhoun and Jackson is
that but for their quarrel there would
have been no strong encouragement to
nullification by Calhoun, and but for tho
fact that Jackson saw oenina nuiuncauon
his enemy Calhoun, he would not have
taken this firm stand for Federal author
ity and the Union.
It is not hard to see how Calhoun drift
ed Into nullification If one studies the
enormously rapid growth of the protective
tariff between 1816 and 1S28. The South.
in entering the Union, had feared such an
application of the protective system as
would burden her, that Northern indus
tries might flourish; and when Congress
would not heed the cry for relief, it was
natural that a doctrinaire like Calhoun,
in the condition of Federal relations as
then developed, should turn to the fatal
remedy of nullification. Calhoun had
preached the doctrine in 1828, when he
and Jackson were on the best of terms.
What Might Have Been.
As to the theory that Jackson in seek
ing to crush nullification aimed a blow
at a personal enemy rather than at a
dangerous principle, it will hardly bear
examination. Doubtless the fact that Cal
houn stood behind nullification lent zest
to the fight for Jackson, but Jackson had
always had a strong sense of nationality.
He was from his early manhood a fron
tiersman, and the men ot Tennessee held
their state rights theory with due4 regard,
to the powers ot the Federal Govern
ment. Jackson had Itched to get his
hands upon the men of the Hartford Con
vention when they were setting them
selves up against Federal authority In
1814. Besides all this, he had won his
fame In battling for the whole country,
and had conquered Florida, not for the
aggrandizement of a particular state but
for the glory of the Union. He seems
also to have heard with satisfaction that
Webster had got the better of Hayne in
the great debate ot 1830, when Hayne
revelation drive Jackson to do something enunciated the theory of nullification and
fever bacillus to be found in the villages
which had been pronounced "doomed" on
account ot the epidemic
And this was achieved by absolute Iso
lation ot the sick and by observing ordi
nary hygienic rules with respect to the
living.
Sewerage, cleanliness, isolation, then,
will stamp out- typhus and typhoid. Let
the health authorities treat these diseases
and fight them as they would cholera and
all is welL
injurious to his chances for the Presl
dency. In November, 1829, a guest at a
White House dinner given to Monroe re
ferred to the fact that Calhoun' had not
been the champion of Jackson In the Flor
ida matter. Jackson was slow to believe
the assertion when Lewis told him of it,
after the other guests had gone and the
old General was smoking his pipe by way
of preparation for bed. Then Lewis told
him of the Forsyth letter, and the Gen
eral insisted that Lewis go to New York
next day and obtain the letter from Ham
ilton. Lewis went, but Hamilton preferred
that the appeal be made directly to For
syth himself, soon coming to Washington
as a Senator. Forsyth, however, pleading
that his memory might have been at fault
touching things told him by Crawford, ad
vised thatT Jackson obtain a letter directly
from Crawford himself.
This was the situation when the Jeffer
son dinner took place. Jackson had prob
ably made up his mind, though not irre
vocably, that Calhoun had been false to
him. but he yet awaited the letter from
Crawford. That letter arrived about the
first of May. and Jackson sent a copy
to Calhoun with a request, reproachful
but not bitter, for an explanation. Cal
noun in his reply seems to have quailed
a little before Jackson, for. while
acknowledging his proposal that a court
of lnaulry examine into jaexsons con
duct in Florida, he seeks to deprecate
the President's wrath by criticising Craw
secession, and Webster appeared as the
champion of an indissoluble Union.
It Is entirely possible, however,, that but
for the quarrel between Jackson and Cal
houn the attempt of South Carolina to put
the theory of nullification into practice
might have been averted. Had the old
confidential relations ot these two re
mained unbroken they might have agreed
upon some plan whereby the tariff ot 1832
could have been made more palatable to
the South. Had there been no misunder
standing between the President and the
Vice-President, and had a way been found
to make Calhoun the successor ot Jack
son, how different might have been tho
subsequent history of the country from,
what it was! Would Calhoun instead of
Monroe have been the last President- to
be elected by the Democrats from, the
Southeast, or might there have been a
succession of Southern Presidents? Would
Texas have come Into the Union In 183.
instead of 1845, and would the Oregon
country have been lost, to us? It all this
had happened, would the weight of power
have remained so plainly with the slave
holding states that a policy of aggressive
slavery extension might not have been
undertaken? Would the coming to power
of a party pledged to slavery restriction
have been postponed for a decade or two,
and would secession and Civil War have
come not in 1861 but in 1S70, or perhaps
as late as the Centennial o our Independence?