MANY persons have seen, while standing in the lobby of the British House of Commons, Mr. Speaker, in his robes, enter, preceded by a tall gentleman with a bag-wig and a sword by his side, carrying on his shoulder a heavy gilt club surmounted by a crown—in short, a mace; but few people are cognizant of how important this toy is to the operations of government. Without it the House of Commons does not exist. It is as essential that the mace should be present at the deliberations of the House, as that Mr. Speaker should be there himself. Without a speaker, the House never proceeds to business, and without his mace Mr. Speaker cannot take the chair. At the commencement of a session, and before the election of a speaker, this valuable emblem of his dignity is hidden under the table of the House, while the clerk of the table presides during the election; but no sooner is the speaker elected than it is drawn from its hiding-place and deposited on the table, where it ever after remains during the sitting of the House; at its rising, Mr. Speaker carries it away with him, and never trusts it out of his keeping. This important question of the speaker's duty in retaining constant possession of this, which may be called his gilt walking-stick, was most gravely decided in the year 1763, as appears by the journals of the House of Commons. On that occasion, Sir John Cust, the speaker, being taken ill, sent to tell the House, by the clerk at the table, that he could not take the chair. It appears that there was considerable discussion whether the mace ought not to have been in the House when this important communication was made. No one, however, presumed to say that it ought to have been on the table; but many maintained that it ought, for the dignity of the House, to have been underneath it. It was decided, however, that Mr. Speaker had done quite right not to part with his "bauble," and the House accordingly, as the journals inform us, "adjourned themselves without the mace." For a member to cross between the chair and the mace when it is taken from the table by the sergeant-at-arms, is an offense which it is the speaker's duty to reprimand. If, however, a prisoner is brought to the bar to give evidence or receive judgment, he is attended by the sergeant-at-arms with the mace on his shoulder, and however desirous any member may be to ask the prisoner a question, he cannot do so, because the mace is not on the table; he must therefore write down his125questions before the prisoner appears, and propose them through the speaker, who is the only person allowed to speak when his "bauble" is away. If the House resolves itself into a committee, the mace is thrust under the table, and Mr. Speaker leaves the chair. In short, much of the deliberative proceedings of this branch of the Legislature are regulated by the position in which this important piece of furniture is placed; to use the words of the learned Hansell, "When the mace lies upon the table it is a House; when under, it is a committee. When the mace is out of the House no business can be done; when from the table and upon the sergeant's shoulder, the speaker alone manages." The mace, then, may be called the household god of the House of Commons, without the presence of which, good fortune could hardly attend its deliberations:—Selected.