(2 of 3)
"I don't know what you think, Mr. Speaker, but this vote is a damned disgrace!"
Then, while the House and the other three tellers literally froze in their tracks with horror, Teller Beckett stretched forth a rash hand toward Parliament's most sacred emblem—the Mace.
Not quite 300 years ago, in 1653, doughty Oliver Cromwell froze English blood by his terrible command, "Take away that bauble!", and for a time the Mace was taken away. Since then no M. P. upon no matter what provocation has ever removed the Mace—this being the sole prerogative of the Sergeant-at-Arms.
Last week wrathful Teller Beckett, like a man beside himself, laid hold of the massy golden emblem, raised it to his shoulder and attempted to scurry out of the House! Up at once, aghast and furious, leaped Admiral Sir Colin Keppel, the Sergeant-at-Arms, to dash from his pew in pursuit. But Sir Colin's ceremonial sword caught in the pew, delaying him, and it was a spry messenger who overtook Beckett, took the Mace from him, handed it to Sir Colin when he arrived. Sir Corin then, with measured tread and awesome frown, marched back with Cromwell's "bauble," restored it to its place.
Cried the Speaker, shrill with anger but punctilious of phrase: "The Honorable Member from Peckham will retire from the House immediately!"
Amid angry shouts of "Get out of it! Get out of it!" the House gradually realized that Mr. Beckett had got-out-of-it as soon as the Mace was taken from him. The shouts then changed to "He's run away! Run away! Run away!"
"Rape of the Mace." Almost too much for British editors was this desecration of the Mace. The august Time's editorial, "The Rape of the Mace" was an attempt at urbanity but the editor of the Daily Telegraph (Conservative) let himself go completely, openly deplored the presence of Rules Chairman Snell and other U. S. Congressmen* in the Gallery of the House when the sacrilege occurred. The distracted Telegraph said: "One hopes they understand that the Mace in no sense represents the authority of the Crown. It is purely a parliamentary symbol representing the determination of the Speaker to uphold the liberties of Parliament and that is why when the House goes into com mittee and the Speaker leaves his chair the Mace is removed from the table and hung beneath it on hooks.
"Without the Mace it is doubtful whether the House can sit with authority, and a story is recalled of how the late T. P. O'Connor revealed a plot among Irishmen to seize the Mace and throw it into the Thames. Yet, bitter as the Irish passions were then, no Irishman ever touched the Mace."