Los Angeles daily herald., 1889-09-01

description. The white and red saltires
or diagonal crosses, if we may say So
of Scotland and England are Counter
charged" that is, while in the first and
third quarters the white is uppermost, in
the second and fourth the red is upper
most. But in order to meet
law of heraldry that color
is not to be placed upon color,
or metal upon metal, it is necessary that
when the red crosses of England and
Ireland come in contact with the blue
ground of the flag they should be 'im-
briated," in other words, separated by a
This has been done in regard to the Irish
satire, but the border which is uniform
ly placed round the cross of st. George is
80 wide that it is not 'fimbriation" at
all, but forms another cross upon which
the red emblem of st. George is superim-
posed.
Mr.. Laughton, in his "Heraldry of the
Sea-" suggests that it was done puI..
posely to mark an ancient tradition OF
the combination of the red cross of En-
gland with the white cross of France.
This, however, cannot have been the
case, as the written blazon removes all
doubt as to what was intended. The
Union flag is seldom flown at sea, except
as part of the ensign. When Her
Majesty is on board any vessel it
is hoisted On the mizzen mast, the
royal standard being hoisted on the
mainmast and that of the Lord High
Admiral on The foremsst. 1t flies from
the mainmast as the flag of an Admiral
of the Fleet, and it is hoisted, we be.
lieve, on board ship on which court.
martial is taking place. 1t was inserted
in the ensign in 1907, previous to which
date the latter bore the English cross
in the canton. The royal standard Of
this country has varied considerably
from time to time. At present it bears
the arms of England in the first and
fourth quarters, Scotland in the second
and Ireland in the third. 1t may not be
generally known that the Prince OF Wales
has standard Of his own, which lie
always hoisted when he is on board q
ship. 1t is the same as the royal stan.
dard, except that it bears, to use heraldic
language, label argent of three points,
with the arms of Saxony on an escut'
cheon of pretense.
A national flag, regarding which Eng
lishmen may naturally feel some interest
is that OF the United States of America.
Before the Declaration of Independence
the different colonies used, not always
without remonstrance, the flag of the
mother country with the addition o
some local emblem. The first flag, in
deed, adopted as a national ensign
by the ships of the United
States, consisted of the now ia
miliar horizontal stripes with the Brit
ish Union in canton. On August A
177l, Congress resolved "that the flag Of
the United States be thirteen stripes
alternately red and white, and that the
union be thirteen stars, white in a blue
field, representing a new constellation. y
Twenty years later the number o.
stripes and stars were alike in
creased to fifteen, but in 1915
Congress reverted to the old thir
teen stripes, the same number as the
original States, while the number of start
was increased to twenty, and it was or
dered that one should be added for each
new State admitted to the Union. The
original of the well known French tri
color seems to be involved in obscurity
1t certainly dates from the Revolution
but the colors seem to have been otter
in horizontal lines, which would make
them resemble the Dutch flag. In 1794
it was ordered that the flag should bs
adopted as now in use, and though thil
Injunction does not seem to have beer
with, it gradually secured acGsptaMce.
This country by no means stands alone
in setting apart special ensign for the
use of its mercantile marine. Among
European States Germany, Russia
Spain. Sweden, Norway and Denmark
have followed a similar course, as have
Peru and Mexico, al we'll as 9
number OF minor States in Amer
ica. There is obviously much
more that might be written regarding
the use of flags af1oat. Their employ.
ment for the purpose of signaling is
worthy of notice; so are the international
usages regarding them, and the limits
within which they may be honorably
used for the purpose of deception dur.
ing war. To enter upon these subjects
however, would lead us too far afield
and would cause this article to extend to
too greata length.-[London Morning
Post.