The Portland daily press., 1874-06-18
Modern Flags.

The white flag, says -Blackwood's Maga-
zine, is essentially the Bourbon mark. Every
Bourbon king in France has borne it as a
royal, personal, and military standard but
ii has never been employed as a national
symbol in the secondary though important
sense OF citizen or mercantile usage. For
that purpose, blue with white cross was,
before the revolution, the only legal sign.
Furthermore, at that time, each province
and each seaport flew its own special colorsl;
so that, really, the white flag was at no time
the universal banner of the French nation.
1t is easy enough to- understand that, indi-
vidually, as Bourbon prince, the Comte de
Chambord should regard the drdpedu blanc
as an attribute of his royalty, and should
refuse to separate himself from il; but if, in
addition to its employment as his personal
standard, he decides las he seems to do,
though he has not spoken clearly on the sub
ject) to impose this one flag on France to the
exclusion of all others, then, manifestly, he
puts himself historically in the wrong. He
is already as wrong as he can be in the po-
litical aspect OF the question; but, leaving
that condition entirely aside, and limiting
ones view to this point Of the historically
proved usages ct the drdpedu blanc, we are
unable to conceive the grounds on which the
Comte de Chambord can rest its apparent
claim that, for the first time since the white
ensign was invented, no other flag shall exist
in France beside it, Here ends this agitated
story for the moment; but before we travel
On from france to other nations it will be
worth while to note that the drdpedu rouge,
to which the communists of Europe have
lately given a distinctive character, was not
originally revolutionary emblem. 1t was
adopted by the COnstitudnte simply as s.g-
nal of the proclamation of martial law; it was
for this reason that Lafayette employed lit
for the first time in.the Champ de Mars On
18th July, 1791. Since then it has changed
its meaning. The stories of the colors of
other countries are a good deal shorter and
more simple than the tale of the flag of
France; but still almost every ensign has
some sort of history.
The flags of Belgium and of the new Ger
man confederation sprang into existence all
complete, and were at once officially adopted
and set forth in 1881 and 1866, in the first
constitution of their respective countries.
But these two cases are exceptions, so far, at
least, as the more important nations are con-
cerned. The other examples of direct creation
of standard which have been recently sup
piled by Mexico, by some OF the American
Republics, and by the Danubian Principali-
ties. do not present general interest enough
to be worth quoting here. The rule among
European nations is, that flags have slowly
grown, with more or less of change and hesi-
tation, into their actual form. In our own
case, for instance, the red banner with the
golden leopards, and the white standard with
the square red cross, which waved so long on
all our battle-felds, gave way at last to the
first Union Jack, comprising the crosses of
st. Andrew and St. George. This symbol
was constituted in 1906 by proclamation of
James the First, and grew later on into its
present shape by the addition ofSt. Patrick's
cross for Ireland. The Stars and Stripes,
again, modern though they may be, were not
made all at once. ''On the 1st OF January,
1776.n as Mr.. Bancroft tells us in his history,
ssthe tri-colOred American banner, not yet
spanged with stars, but showing thirteen
| stripes of alternate red and white in the
| field, and the united red and white crosses of
| st. George and st. Andrew on a blue ground
| in the corner, was unfurled" at Boston. 1t
was not till eighteen months after this first
attempt that the badge of England disap
peared from the new ensign. On the l4th OF
June, 1777, the crosses were struck out; on
that day Congress ''resolved that the flag of
| the thirteen United States should be thirteen
stripes, alternate red and white; that the
Union be thirteen stars, white on blue
field, representing new constellation" !"
The heraldry was original, but the idea was
| excellent, and it has grown good deal since
| by the addition of other stars to the "con-
| stellation."
The history of the flag of Holland is more
complicated. That flag was the first tricolor
invented and it has been pretended that its
horizontal orange, white, and blue were sug-
gested by Henry lV. of France, who, accord
ing to the legend, was requested by the e Duicn na
to choose their colors for them when Sney oe,
came independent; but in Jonges Note % on
the Nederlandsche Vlag it is Proyea WiSdsh Iy Tue
evidence of the tapestries 1soi y and denic.eI
MattIas I fouebt twenty years before that this
Sa" Sao.e visited and was in use when tue Bernais
J was was stiIl almost boy, 1t may be that the