The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-02-27
From the New YORK Sun.

every one who has read English history
has read of Nelson's famous signal before
the battle of Trafalgar. England expects
that every man will do his duty" There
has been some suggestion that the admiral
really signalled Nelson" instead of Eng
land" and that his signal was edited by
some friend, but the usual and historical
version puts England in the first place.
There was signalling before Nelson's time.
James, Duke of York, signalled by code
when he was Lord High Admiral of Eng
land as far back as 1865. and Kempenfeldt
of Royal George fame improved on James
system. But one of the earliest signal sys-
TENS was invented by the British admiral
ty in 1899 and introduced at once into Nell
sons fleet. BY this code, which had ten
flags, representing the numerals from to
10 (O) inclusive, the famous Trafalgar sig
nal was sent.
Signals and flags are described in a re-
cent book by an Englishman, f. Edward
Hume, who puts letters after his name
to signify that he Is a fellow of the Lin
naean Society and also a fellow of the
Society of Antnquaries. Over here people
who go In for heraldry scientifically don't
say much about it, because we don't think
much on heraldry, but Mr.. Hume has
written books on heraldry and ornament,
| and he has taken up flags and studied
them historically, heraldically and senti-
mentally. Luckily for him. though the
flags of one nation differ from those of
every other nation, the signal flags are
International in character, so that when
he has described them or told about them
as English he does not have to say any
thing about their French or other charac-
ter
OF course Mr.. Hulme devotes most of
his space to British flags. but he treats
other flags fairly. First among banners
came religious banners, such as the la
barum of Constantine, the banner of Duke
William of Normandy, and the orihamme
of France. Then came heraldic devices,
and in time these were modified until we
have the modern flag
In the early days of chivalry the ban
ner was the chief flag 1t was a square
flag, and should have varied in size ae-
cording to the rank of it's owner Thus
an Emperor's banner should have been
six feet square; a Kings. five; a Princes
or a Dukes four while the banner of
an Earl, Marquis, Niscount or Baron
should have been three feet SQUARE. On
the banner were the arms of the owner
Then came the Kings banner, now called
just for the sake of principle, that the
royal standard Is really the royal banner
1t bears the arms of the sovereign, just as
the ordinary banner bore those of a Duke
or Baron. Whether ii was originally six
feet or five feet square Mr.. Hume doesn't
say. He seems to imply that It was
square, although modern royal standards
are oblong, like modern flags.
The knights flag was pennon, a small
swallow-tailed flag; he was not a big
enough man to have a banner. But when
knight had done some brave deed on
the field of battle, his sovereign, If pres
ent. might make him a f0night-banneret
by tearing off the points of the flag, and
so making it roughly into a banner.
knight-banneret must not be COMPOUNDED
with baronet Edward l made the first
knight-banneret. Charles l made Col
John Smith one in 1912. and the next one
was made by George II on the field of
Dettngen in 1743 James VI and I, who
couldn't bear the sight of a sword, devils,
ed the rank of baronet and sold it to all
corners at fl,095 apiece
Now, a standard, according to Mr.
Hume, really is this: A flag of noble di-
mansions, that shall always have the cross
of st. George placed next to the pole, that
shall be divided horizontally into two or
more stripes of colors-the prevailing col
ors of the owners arms, or of his livery
that shall bear his motto and badges and
be richly fringed, its lengthy much greater
than its width, and It's ends split and
rounded off. Mr.. Hulmc confines his ac
count to English standards only, but the
cross of st. Andrew would make a Scot
fish standard, that of st. Patrick and Irish
standard, and the lilies of France and the
castle and lion of Castle and Leon. If
placed next to the pole, would make a
french and Spanish standard respective
ly. No one could have more than one
banner, since his banner was composed of
his heraldic arms, but a persons could
have two or three standards Thus Hem
ry VII had a Bosworth field, in 1885. at
least two standards both were green and
white, since those were the Tudor livery
colors, but one showed a red frye dra-
gon," and in the other was pointed
donne kowe' A third banner OF this
King bore silver greyhound between red
roses. When Queen Elizabeth was buried
the great embroidered banner of England.
the banners of Wales, Ireland Chester.
and Cornwall, and the standards of the
dragon, greyhound, and falcon, were dis
palyed.
From the proper lengths of standards II
is evident that they were meant to stand
not to be carried about; that they were to
be rallying points in battle A kings
standad was to be eight yards long. a
uuhc SeNei1 d. IldTQulS SIX ana half.
and so on down to a knight, whose banner
might be four yards long.
Knights who were not khights-banneret
bore pennons; as rule, these had two
points, though some had one point only
and others had three. four, or even five
points. remnants Tor pendants Mr.. HUI
me perfers to call them) in Tudor times
were called streamers. Then, as now. they
were peculiar to ships. and In those DAYS
were wider than they are now. One Of
our ships came into harbor a few wears
ago with a UNCONVENTIONAL pennant
nearly 500 feet long, and not more than a
foot wide at the staff. In the time of
Henry VI one of the great ships of the
day had "grete stremour XII yardes IN
length and viii yards in brede."
The only other flag to be noted is tho
guidon. 1t is derived from the French
word guide-homme, guide man, and ito
name expresses its purpose. In mediaevaI
Gays it was spelled guydhomme. <uydop
gytton, geton. and in other happv-
lucky ways, too. It is a small flag borne
HEDIckl O.