Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1889-06-28
THE ORIGIN OF SOME FLAGS.
Various Standards and Ensigns Of Great
Britain.

Lord George Hamilton obtained leave TO bring
in bill to amend the law relating TO the use of
flags in the British merchant service. From
the year 1901 il has been the law for merchant
vessels belonging to this country TO ay the red
ensign. At the present day, however, IL they
are commanded by an officer Of the royal naval
reserve, and one-third Of the crew belong 10
that force, they are allowed to display the blue
ensign, which is also the flag under which, by
admiralty warrant, most yacht clubs sail The
royal yacht squadron possesses the highly
priced privilege of flying the white ensign
which, since 1864, has been the only ensign in
use in the royal navy. For some considerable
period before the year Just mentioned there
were admirals, vice-admirals, and rear-ad-
mirals Of the red, the white, and the blue and
man-of-war displayed the ensign indicated by
the color of the admiral in command. and
changed 1t, II necessary, on proceeding to
other station or returning home.
Since 1864, however, all this has been altered.
and the white ensign has been the recognized
flag Of the royal navy of this country. Just as
the red ensign has from the beginning of the
century been carried, with the comparatively
recently-authorized exception already referred
to, by the mercantile marine. Formerly. too.
feet was supposed to consist Of three divisions,
which bore the names of the red. the white and
the blue squadrons, and were distinguished
from one another by the ensigns they bore.
Inc HOuce OF sucn q DIVISION Is. perhaps,
that which occurs in a manuscript report by
Pepys, the well-known diary writer and secre-
tary TO the admiralty. in which il is stated that
IN the expedition OF the duke of Buckingham
against the lie de Rhe in 1927 the feet was thus
organized. The duke" writes Pepys now
lying at Portsmouth. divided his fleet into
squsdrons. Himselfe, ADMIRAL and general in
chlefe, went in We Triumph, bearing the stand
ard OF England in ye maine topp, and ADMIRAL
particular of the bloody colours. The earl of
GnU .lx.,.r - L. /.
Rainbowe, bearing the kings usual colors in
his fore topp. and blew flag in his maine topp,
and was ADMIRAL of the blew colours. The
Lord Harvey was rear-admirall in We Repulse,
bearing the kings usual colours in his mizen
and white flag in the maine topp, and was ad-
| mirall of We squadron of white Colours"
1t is noticeable that in this instance the blue
| nag took precedence of the white. Under the
commonwealth the blue relegated to the
third place, and il continued in that position
until the distinction of squadrons by means OF
the color of the ensign they bore was abolished
In 1854 II is clear, however, that some such
distin. ton was necessary in the old days when
| fleet consisted of an enormous number of
vessels, all told and it isperhaps not quite evil
dent that 1t, or something like il. would not
have to be revived necessitate rel, in the event
| OF such a war as should compel us to put forth
| the whole OF our naval strength. Here, how
| ever, it may be as well to observe that previous
| to 1905 the admiral commanding in the center
| flew at the main, not the red flag, but the
union. Familiarity, but enormously, known as
the union jack.
There is an immense amount Of lore connected
with national flags and the manner in which
| they have come to be adopted. Ii would be
useless attempting to give even an epitome of
1t here. but it may be interesting, avoiding
heraldc terms as much as possible, to devote
some little consideration to the subject The
| portion Of a flag, it may be well to explain
| nearest the staff or to the rope to which il ia
/ attached. known AZ he hnia han
| the center, and the outer part is described as
| the fly. We have already spoken of three
English ensigns used under different circum-
stances and conditions In each case the I'M
| ION occupies the canton or upper part of the
hoist, but, whereas in the red and blue ensigns
the remainder of the flag is of the color indi-
Gated by its name, the white ensign has upon
| 1t the red cross Of ST. George extending over
the whole field. This was for long time the
| distinguishing flag of England. The national
flag of Scotland is a white satire, or st. An
drew's cross, upon a blue Technically,
azure, satire argent-and what il has been
customary to describe as the flag of Ireland is
| a red satire upon a white field
Strictly speaking, however, Ireland never
| had national flag. Before the invasion of
ll72 the petty king who was elected TO the chief
| place continued to use his own standard For
| some time subsequent to 1172 the standard of
ireland bore three golden crowns on a blue
| held. Henry VIII substituted harps for crowns
| for fear, 1t is said, that the latter might be
| taken for the triple crown of the pope; but as
Mr.. Macgeorge points out, the harp did not ap-
pear In the royal standard until it was placed
there by James |. In 1908, on the union of
| the crowns of England and Scotland, the first
| union flag was formed by the combination of
| the st. Georges cross with the satire of Scot
land, and it appears that this flag was used for
| ships only, though it was not then worn i'm the
ensign, but was used separately on the .jack
| staff on the bowsprit, the union jack. prop
erly so-called, now is To clear this point up
once and for ALL let say that it is held by the
best authorities that, in spite of the usage of
the war office to the contrary. the flag usually
called the union jack ought to be spoken OF as
its ordinary title when a small edition of il is
| used as a Jack, that is, is flown from the
Jack-staf, situated formerly Oh the bowsprit and
now in the bows of a man-of-war
During the commonwealth the parliament
| expunged the Scottish cross with its blue field
from the union and introduced the Irish harp
in the fly of the ensign, but the restoration saw
| the old flag reintroduced, and on the union
/ with Ireland at the beginning of the present
century the Irish satire was added to it and
| the flag assumed Its present form. 1t must be
admitted that, from heraldic point of view, il
! can scarcely be called an eminent success. The
| written description, or verbal blazon given of
it was correct enough, but the flag has never
| been made in accordance with that description
The white and red saltires-or diagonalcrosses
are ''countercharged," that is, while in the
first ana third quarters the white is uppermost.
in the second and fourth the red is uppermost
But in order to meet law of heraldry that
color lis not to be placed upon color, or metal
upon metal, it is necessary that when the red
crosses of England and Ireland come into con-
tact with the blue ground of the flag thew
should be ''fimbriated," in other words sepa-
rated by very narrow border, in this case of
white. This has been done in regard to the
Irish satire, but the border which Is uniformly
placed round the cross of st. George is SO wide
that it is not ''imbriation" at all but forms
another cross upon which the red emblem of
ST. George is superimposed-
Mr.. Laughton, In his "Heraldry of the Sea-"
suggests that this was done purposely to mark
an ancient tradition of the combination of the
red cross of England 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 sell
dom 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 foremost. 1t flies
from the mainmast as the flag of an admiral of
the feet and it is hoisted, we believe, on board
a ship on which a court-martial is taking place.
1t was inserted in the ensign in 1907, previous