MACDUFF

macduff, a police burgh and seaport of banffshire, scotland. pop. (1001), 3431. it lies on the right bank of the mouth of the deveron, 1 m. e. of banff and 501⁄4 m. n.w. of aberdeen by the great north of scotland railway. the site was originally occupied by the fishing village of doune, but after its purchase by the 1st earl of fife, about 1732, the name was altered to macduff by the 2nd earl, who also procured for it in 1783 a royal charter constituting it a burgh. in honour of the occasion he rebuilt the market cross, in front of the parish church. the harbour, safer and more accessible than that of banff, was constructed by the duke of fife, and transferred to the burgh in 1808. the inhabitants are chiefly employed in the herring fishery, but there is some boat-building, besides rope-and-sail making, manure works, saw-mills and oilcake mills. a stone bridge across the deveron communicates with banff. good bathing facilities, a bracing climate and a mineral well attract numerous visitors to macduff every summer. the burgh unites with banff, cullen, elgin, inverurie, kintore and peterhead (the elgin burghs) in returning one member to parliament. mcduffie, george (1788-1851), american political leader, was born in columbia county, georgia. he was admitted to the bar in 1814, and served in the south carolina general assembly in 1818-1821, and in the national house of representatives in 1821-1834. in 1821 he published a pamphlet in which strict construction and states' rights were strongly denounced; yet in 1832 there were few more uncompromising nullificationists. the change seems to have been gradual, and to have been determined in part by the influence of john c. calhoun. when, after 1824, the old democratic-republican party split into factions, he followed andrew jackson and martin van buren in opposing the panama congress and the policy of making federal appropriations for internal improvements. he did not hesitate, however, to differ from jackson on the two chief issues of his administration: the bank and nullification. in 1832 he was a prominent member of the south carolina nullification convention, and drafted its address to the people of the united states. he served as governor in 1834-1836, during which time he helped to reorganize south carolina college. from january 1843 until january 1846 he was a member of the united states senate. the leading democratic measures of those years all received his hearty support. mcduffie, like calhoun, became an eloquent champion of state sovereignty; but while calhoun emphasized state action as the only means of redressing a grievance, mcduffie paid more attention to the grievance itself. influenced in large measure by thomas cooper, he made it his special work to convince the people of the south that the downfall of protection was essential to their material progress. his argument that it is the producer who really pays the duty of imports has been called the economic basis of nullification. he died at cherry hill, sumter district, south carolina, on the 11th of march 1851. mace (fr. _masse_, o. fr. _mace_, connected with lat. _mateola_, a mallet), originally a weapon of offence, made of iron, steel or latten, capable of breaking through the strongest armour.[1] the earliest _ceremonial_ maces, as they afterwards became, though at first intended to protect the king's person, were those borne by the serjeants-at-arms, a royal body-guard established in france by philip ii., and in england probably by richard i. by the 14th century a tendency towards a more decorative serjeant's mace, encased with precious metals, is noticeable. the history of the civic mace (carried by the serjeants-at-mace) begins about the middle of the 13th century, though no examples of that period are in existence to-day. ornamented civic maces were considered an infringement of one of the privileges of the king's serjeants, who, according to the commons' petition in 1344, were alone deemed worthy of having maces enriched with costly metals. this privilege was, however, granted to the serjeants of london, and later to those of york (in 1396), norwich (in 1403/4) and chester (in 1506). maces covered with silver are known to have been used at exeter in 1387/8; two were bought at norwich in 1435, and others for launceston in 1467/8. several other cities and towns had silver maces in the next century, and in the 16th they were almost universally used. early in the 15th century the flanged end of the mace, i.e. the head of the war mace, was borne uppermost, and the small button with the royal arms in the base. by the beginning of the tudor period, however, these blade-like flanges, originally made for offence, degenerated into mere ornaments, while the greater importance of the end with the royal arms (afterwards enriched with a cresting) resulted in the reversal of the position. the custom of carrying the flanged end upward did not die out at once: a few maces were made to carry both ways, such as the beautiful pair of winchcombe silver maces, dating from the end of the 15th century. the guildford mace is one of the finest of the fifteen specimens of the 15th century. the flanged ends of the maces of this period were often beautifully pierced and decorated. these flanges gradually became smaller, and later (in the 16th and early 17th centuries) developed into pretty projecting scroll-brackets and other ornaments, which remained in vogue till about 1640. the next development in the embellishment of the shaft was the reappearance of these small scroll-brackets on the top, immediately under the head of the mace. they disappear altogether from the foot in the last half of the 17th century, and are found only under the heads, or, in rarer instances, on a knob on the shaft. the silver mace-heads were mostly plain, with a cresting of leaves or flowers in the 15th and 16th centuries. in the reign of james i. they began to be engraved and decorated with heraldic devices, &c. as the custom of having serjeants' maces ceased (about 1650), the large maces, borne before the mayor or bailiffs, came into general use. thomas maundy was the chief maker of maces during the commonwealth. he made the mace for the house of commons in 1649, which is the one at present in use there, though without the original head with the non-regal symbols, the latter having been replaced by one with regal symbols at the restoration. there are two maces in the house of lords, the earliest dating from the reign of william iii. the dates of the eight large and massive silver-gilt maces of the serjeants-at-arms, kept in the jewel-house at the tower of london, are as follows: two of charles ii., two of james ii., three of william and mary, and one of queen anne (the cypher of george i. was subsequently added to the latter). all the foregoing are of the type which was almost universally adopted, with slight differences, at the restoration. the civic maces of the 18th century follow this type, with some modifications in shape and ornamentation. the historic english silver maces of the 18th century include the one of 1753 at norfolk, virginia, and that of 1756 of the state of south carolina, both in the united states of america; two, made in 1753 and 1787, at jamaica; that of 1791 belonging to the colony of grenada, and the speaker's mace at barbados, dating from 1812; and the silver mace of the old irish house of commons, 1765-1766, now in the possession of lord massereene and ferrard. [illustration: from jewitt and hope's _corporation plate and insignia_ (1895), by permission of bemrose & co. fig. 1.--group of war maces of the 15th and 16th centuries.] [illustration: from jewitt and hope's _corporation plate and insignia_ (1895), by permission of bemrose & co. fig. 2.--mace of the house of commons.] among other maces, more correctly described as staves, in use at the present time, are those carried before ecclesiastical dignitaries and clergy in cathedrals and parish churches and the maces of the universities. at oxford there are three of the second half of the 16th century and six of 1723-1724, while at cambridge there are three of 1626 and one of 1628, but altered at the commonwealth and again at the restoration. the silver mace with crystal globe of the lord high treasurer of scotland, at holyrood palace, was made about 1690 by francis garthorne. the remarkable mace or sceptre of the lord mayor of london is of crystal and gold and set with pearls; the head dates from the 15th century, while the mounts of the shaft are early medieval. a mace of an unusual form is that of the tower ward of london, which has a head resembling the white tower in the tower of london, and which was made in the reign of charles ii. the beautiful mace of the cork gilds, made by robert goble of cork in 1696 for the associated gilds, of which he had been master, is in the victoria and albert museum, where there is also a large silver mace of the middle of the 18th century, with the arms of pope benedict xiv., which is said to have been used at the coronation of napoleon as king of italy at milan in 1805. bibliography.--jewitt and hope, _corporation plate and insignia of office_, &c. (2 vols., 1895); j. r. garstin, _irish state and civic maces_, &c. (1898); j. paton, _scottish history and life_ (1902); j. h. buck, _old plate_ (1903), pp. 124-140; cripps, _old english plate_ (9th ed., 1906), pp. 394-404; e. alfred jones, _old plate at the tower of london_ (1908); ed., "some historic silver maces," _burlington magazine_ (dec. 1908). (e. a. j.) footnote: [1] the mace was carried in battle by medieval bishops (odo of bayeux is represented on the bayeux tapestry as wielding one) instead of the sword, so as to conform to the canonical rule which forbade priests to shed blood.--[ed.]