The record-union., 1898-07-25
THE AMERICAN FLAG.
OLDER THAN THAT OF MANY
EUROPEAN COUNTRIES.
Embodies the Softest and the
Strongest Emotions of
People.

| nation," says Mr.. Hastings, 'can be
found in flag. 1t embodies the soft
est and the strongest emotion OF a
people" To-day the Stars and Stripes,
or the emblem of our national coiors,
are worn by millions of ,our people.
In tracing the history of our flag Mr..
Hastings gives what to many is quite
| novel. He tells us that to-day the
| national flag Of the United States is
older than the flag of many Of the old
est European countries. 1t is older
than the present flag Of Great Brit
ain which was established in 1901;
than the flag of Spain, which was es-
tablished in 17S5; than the French tri-
color, decreed in 1894; than the flag
of Portugal, established in 1880; than
| the Italian tricolor, established In 1913;
| than the flags of the old empires or
China and Japan, and of the empire or
Germany, which represents the sover-
eighty Of fourteen distinct States, es-
| tablished in 1870"
| Before our Revolution the flags OF the
colonies were English In 1861, when
| 1.-The English Parliament resurrected
and adopted the old standard OF the
cross of st. George as the colors OF Eng
land the General Court of Massachu-
advanced upon the castle on all neces-
sary occasions. In New Eng
land, in 1856, the adopted colors were
the cross of st. George, borne on
white field occupying the whole flag,
the center of the cross emblazoned with
yellow or green ground over the cl-
pher of the sovereign King James L.
| About the close of the seventeenth
and beginning of the last century sew
eral mentions of flags are to be found,
with distinguishing emblems, ana
American Colonial merchantmen bore
at their maStheads special colors. Then
came the first differences between the
Colonies and the mother country, the
| Sons of Liberty showed their zeal IN
flying a great variety Of flags. At the
battle of Bunker Hill 'the colonists had
their own standard, and the gallant
Warren was shot while attempting TO
rally his men by reminding them OF
the patriotic inscription on their en-
sign This flag carried a blue field,
with one corner quartered by the red
cross of ST. George, in one section or
which was a pine tree"
This pine tree on the flag had GER
tain persistency from October, l1Io, to
July, 1716. 1t was generally adopted
| by Washington's army, and the six
schoonerS first commissioned by WASH
| ington, and the first vessels commls-
stoned by the United States, sailed un-
der this flag. On October ~, lIo,
Colonel Joseph Reed, Washington
military secretary, wrote ColoHelS
Glover and Moylan as follows: Please
fix upon some particular color for a nag
or signal by which our vessels may
| do a U
of a flag with a white ground and a
tree in the middle, the motto An APP
peal to Heaven? This is the flag OF
our floating batteries"
/ A white flag, because it is invisible at
a certain distance, would have rendered
such a color as signal useless; then,
again, any lettering on flag is illeglple
from the same cause. Nevertheless, In
a certain way, Reeds suggestion was
adopted, and several American vessels
captured by the English bore the white
flag with the pine tree. The lettering
seems to have been subject to changes.
A favorite flag at that time, however,
bore serpent with the legend, Don t
Tread on Me-" Unite or Die"
THE Gadsden flag which was pre-
sented to Congress on the Sth of Febru-
ary. 1776, carried a field of yellow, with
a lively representation in the middle of
a rattlesnake in the attitude of striking.
The Westmoreland County Pa.) Regi-
ment had a similar flag with red field !;
the First Regiment of Pennsylvania a
tiger flag, with a deep green ground
That there should be a national flag
did not seem at first to have been
thought a necessity, but after a time a
committee of the Continental Congress
determined that such a national flag
should be adopted. This committee was
composed Of Benjamin Franklin, Thorn
| as Lynch, Jr., of South Carolina and
Benjamin Harrison Of Virginia. They
held their conference at Cambridge and
decided:
ITO retain the Kings colors or the
union jack, representing the still rec
ognized sovereignty of England, but
coupled with thirteen stripes, alternate
red and white, emblematic of the union
of the colonies against the tyranny and
oppression, in place of the royal ensign.
This flag was first thrown to the breeze
January 3, 1716, over the camp at Cam
bridge. Washington two days later, in
a letter to Joseph Reed, says: I'VE hoist
ed the Union Flag in compliment to the
United States The British
Annual Register about this time, con-
tains this paragraph: They 1.-THE rebels |
burned the Kings speech and changed
their colors from a plain red ground,
which they had hitherto used, to a flag
| with thirteen stripes, as a symbol of
the Union and number of the colonies. =
| The report Of the committee is of par
ticular historical interest, for in retain
ing the colors of the union jack there
ty of England. This is a convincing
proof that it was only at the very last
| moment that the idea was entertained
| Of an entire and absolute severance
from England.
| Where did the stripes come from?
Who originated them? Hugh Hastings
writes that the exact colors of those
stripes at the beginning is by no means
well defined
1T has been suggested that the
stripes on our flag werS derived from
the national flag of the Netherlands,
adopted as early as 1882. Then, again,
it has been claimed that the idea of our
ensign emanated from the East India
| Company's flag. A careful research
fails to elicit the fact what year the
| East India Company first adopted the
striped flag, but it is known that in 1704
| this company'S ensign consisted of thir-
| teen alternating red and white stripes,
with the cross of ST. George in white
canton which rested upon the fourth