The Irish standard., 1889-06-01
THE IRISH STANDARD: SATURDAY. JUNE 1.

Z
ensign by our ships of war, consisted
Of horizontal stripes with the British
Union still retained in a canton, but
was afterwards replaced by the stars
on blue ground.
There is no question Of the fact that
the origin Of our national flag was
taken from the coat of arms Of the
Washington family, which was consti-
tuted of stars and bars. In 1866 the
construction of the first national stan
dard with the stars and stripes took
place in Philadelphia under the per-
sonal direction Of General Washington
and committee CT the old Continental
Congress. The first flag bore twelve
bars in circle, as then only twelve
States had ratified the articles of con-
federation. On July IA, l777, Congress
resolved that the United States be
thirteen stripes, alternate white and
red, and the union be thirteen white
stars in blue field.
On Jan 13, 1894, after two new States
had been admitted, Congress passed an
act that the stars and stripes be in
creased to fifteen es ch. Upon the ad-
mission of new States subsequently
stripes and stars were being added to
tine flag. which soon rendered it un-
wieldy and destroyed it's form and per-
spicuity.
On the admission of the State of Indi-
ana into the union, in 1915. resolution
was introduced at the second session Of
the Fourteenth Congress in the House,
by Mr.. Wendover, of New York. to in
quire INTO the expediency of altering
the flag of the United States. After
wards the Committee on Naval Affairs
called on Capt. Samuel Chester Reid,
of New York, who was in Washington
at the time, late commander of the
brig~ofwar General Armstrong, to
make a permanent design for the flag.
He reduced the stripes to thirteen, to
represent the original States, and to
add a star to the union for each new
State.
He presented two forms of the flag,
one with the stars formed into one great
star in the Union expressing signid-
cantly the symbol ''E Pluribus Unum"
for our ships and steamers in the mer-
chant service, and the other with the
parallel lines for the halls Of Congress,
our ships OF war and public buildings.
Congress approved of the design by an
act passed March 3lst, 1878, Fifteenth
Congress, first session, and approved by
President Munroe on April 4, 1918.
The first flag Of the present design
was made by the wife Of Captain Reid,
assisted bY some young ladies, at her
house in New York City, on ClerrY
Street, near Franklin Square, and was
first hoisted on the Capitol on the 18th
of April, 1918, seventy-one years ago.
The genius that designed the settled
form and permanency Of the United
States Flag was most aptly chosen. No
braver or more gallant sailor could have
been selected for the task-none more
deserving than he, who had won the
world 8 applause and immortal fame at
the battle of Fayal with q British squad.
ron in 1914.
A brilliant September midnight moon
Lit up with its silyery sheen tha waters
! Of the bay, and the walls Of Horta,
burning the towering volcanic-peak Of
Mount Pico, which seemed excited to
eruption as it looked down upon the
battle scene below. The American en-
sign hoated deiantly from the peak Of
the General Armstrong amid the roar
and smoke Of guns and the clash Of
steel--chen the battle CRY and shout of
victory rang out upon the air, and re-
echoed again and again over the bay
and the hills OF Horta. The stars in
that flag that night were silvered with
a brilliant luster which not even the
moonbeams dancing on the waves Of
the bay, blood-red with the human
gore of England's bravest and best,
could not make more dazzling than the
splendor Of the victory
Capt. Reid died in 1861, at the age Of
seventy eight, and the last Of his seven
sons, Col. Samuel G. Reid, now resides
in Washington. His distinguished de-
fense Of his fathers rights and honor
against the combined efforts of Eng
land, Portugal, France, as we'll as his
own Government, in which he finally
succeeded, won for hima high reputa-
ton as an international law jurist and
| a devoted son.
LOCAL AND OTHERWISE.
| e..