The Washington herald., 1907-03-17
HISTORY OF A SILVER MACE
Emblem of Authority in South Caro-
lina's House of Representatives.
1t Was Hnde in London 100 Years
Ago. and Was Carried on
During the Revolution
Inn III. cairmbI. IS. q st..e.

+ Frlm the Columbia Is. c. State.
/ Visitors TO the hall of the house OF
representative doubtless notice. not
without some curiosity. the handsome sill
yer, gold-burnished mace that hangs
against the front Of the speakers desk.
That mace is just q century and a half
Old. and has more Of history than the
average mace Of that age. As is shown
by the haIImarks thereon, il was made
ia London in 17J6 by Magdalen Feline a
plateworker then well known in Lon
don. In 1913 Josiah Quincy jr.. a dis
tinguished citizen of Massachusetts. vis-
tied Charles Town (now -Charlestown)
and on the 10Th OF March made the fol-
lowing entry in his diary:
Spent all the morning in hearing de-
bates in the house. and had an oppor-
tunity Of hearing the best spea kers in
the province. The first thing done at the
meeting is TO bring the mace-a sery su-
perb and elegant one. which cost 80
guineas-and lay it on the table before
the speaker.
During the Revolution this mace was
carried off by some British sympathizers
To Nassau, New Providence. where 1t
was offered for sale to the House OF As
sembly Of the Bahama Islands.
The records of the House OF Assembly
Of the Bahamas at Nassau show that on
the 18th Of June. 1920. Mr.. Mckenzie
moved that John Wells. esquire. be en-
powered and authorized 10 purchase from
the person or persons having custody Of
the silver mace Of the late assembly Of
the Province Of South Carolina. and that
this house will provide for any sum or
expenses incurred by reason of said pur-
chase"
The records do not show that any fur
theF action was taken i'm relation to the
mace. but many writers have assumed
that it was purchased, and one writer has
gone so far as to chronicle the wander
ings Of the mace from South Carolina to
the Bahamas and another writer has as
serted that ''as matter of fact. it was
about ten years before the purchase was
effected and appropriation passed TO COW
eT the cost of the mace and the speak
er's robe" But, "as a matter Of fact" it
was never purchased at all, and the mace
South Carolina mace. was made in Lon
don in 1929, as shown by records in Lon
don. and by the hallmarks on the mace
itself. Harcourt g. Malcolm. a member
of the Bahama House of Assembly and
an authority on such matters in the Ba-
hamas. says, in letter to J s Church
ill. colonial secretary Of the Bahamas
dated February % 1873. Last summer
when our mace was In London for the
purpose Of being rcgllded and repaired.
IL was inspected at the assay Office The
officials Of that Office fixed the date Of its
Manufacture at 1889. and the records Of
thet Office also disclosed the fact that
IL had been made by Lewis Pantin. a
small worker. whose address vas s. St
Martins le Grand. at present part Of the
site of the general post-office building
The date given by the assay Office was
also corrohorated by W II. s.. John
Hope. Of the Society Of Antiquaries. This
is further subStantiated by the votes OF
the House OF Assembly For on the Sth
OF December. 1899, the following item
appears In the resolution arrived al in a
committee of ,he whole house on De
tiuons. estimates, and accounts:
''re Alexander c. Wylly. esquire. for
amount paid by him Tor q mace. speak /
ers gown, sc. e26e- 10-0"
The writer goes on 90 say that Mr..
Wylly had been speaker of the house
from October &C. l79S. to November Il. /
1900. when il became necessary 10 elect
a successor TO him in consequence Of his I
absence from the colony; that he had
10 Nassau or November q. 1890. /
and was refunded the amount which lie !
had paid out for the mace and robe as de- I
scribed above and that it seemed "a plau- /
sibie suggestion that he brought it with /
him.