The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1865-04-01
9Mistella1leors.
NATIONAL STANDARDS.
THEIR ORIGIN

Attachment to the national standard is
one of the earliest and most firmly fixed
lessons of patriotism. To the soldier espe-
cially, it is part of his very life No Incl
dents ofhistory are more romantic or more
touching than those which tell of armies
rescued from the jaws of defeat by the clear
voice of some trusted leader who summons
them to rally round the banner which has
so often led them to victory. The history
Of the standards of different nations is preg
heroism and patriotism, of vcissitudes, Of
victory, and defeat; it is frequently the
story of the nations growth and glory and
decline; of it's great men and their great
deeds.
The eagle has always been favorite en-
blem with most warlike people, and it fig
ures prominently in the ancient mytholo-
gies. sa
"The Romans adopted the eagle symbol
at an early period of their history. AT
first, according to Dionysius of Halicarnas-
sus, they crowned with it the sceptre Of
their kings afterwards, when they had
toppled down the throne, they made it the
ornament of the sceptre of their warrior
chiefs, and the only ensign Of their legions
"Under the republic, the Roman eagle
was carved in wood +; then in silver, with
thunderbolt of gold in in its talons. C@-
sar was the first who had the whole cast in
gold, but he deprived it of the thunderbolt
on which it had hitherto rested. To mark
his indefatigable activity, and his constant
yearning after new conquests, the Romans
always represented Caesars eagle with out
stretched wings, as if.seeking to inclose the
entire world in the grasp of its shadow.
"Each legion had its golden eagle poised
at the point of lance. They regarded it
with the most religious veneration,; they
made oath by it as by a divinity; and these
oaths were esteemed peculiarly sacred
The warrior-bird preserved even there his
protecting character; the guilty soldier,
on the point of being smitteh by the centu-
rion's axe-the prisoner doomed to death,
might obtain life and pardon ifthey placed
themselves under the safeguard of the ea-
gle, by clasping closely the lance of the
standard-bearer.
"On the days Of the triumph of success
the garniture of victory-with crowns Of
laurels and garlands of flowers. When q
legion pitched its camp the eagle was
placed in its centre; and if it happened
that two legions encamped together, they
erected upon the limits of the two camps a
double eagle, with heads and wings opposed
'Ifa Roman army were defeated, the ca
gle was not suffered to fall into the hands
of the, enemy; when the standard-bearer
saw the rout begin, he broke his lance in
twain, and buried in the earth that portion
which was crowned by the imperial symbol
This took place after the fatal battle Of
Lake Thrasymene and we owe to such a
precaution the only legionary eagle that
has been preserved to our times 1t was
found in Germany, on the land the Count
dErlach; is of bronze gilt, three inches
high, and weighs eight pounds. 1t is sup
posed to have belonged to the Twenty-se-
cond legion, which being sorely pressed in
a battle with the Alemanni, the eagle-bea-
rer, before he took to flight, concealed in
the earth the precious symbol intrusted to
his care" es' M igIaH 1et'.
varus was defeated, and the eagles of
his legions we're captured, and Rome felt
deeply humiliated. ! s.,..fss. ,s f.
The German emperors at first bore asin-
gle eagle, in remembrance of the Roman
Caesars They afterwards adopted the two
headed eagle, as symbol of the double
empire of Rome and Constantinople. ''H
Czar Ivan ILL.,, Of Russia having marri-
ed the daughter Of the Emperor Michael
Paleologus, considered himself also entitled
to the eagle. "He ordered double-head-
ed eagle to be engraved upon his coins, in
every respect similar to that Of the Ger
man and Greek emperors; but instead of
being represented with expanded wings,
like the eagle of the Caesars, its wings were
folded. Ivan had no sooner ascertained
this distinction between the Muscovite
and the German eagle, than he caused the
designers and engravers Of his coins to be
hungp5A baH e1ysa y
ga'' The French Standard.
The French kings first adopted the color