The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-02-27

by the troops of a cavalry regiment. All
our guidons are alike-red In the artillery,
yellow in the cavalry, but in the British
army the senior troop carries a crimson
silk gudon, called the queens. while The
other troops carry guidons Of the same
color as the facings of the regmental uni
form.
Flag devising is really a branch of
heraldry," says Mr.. Hume, and should
be in accordance with its laws, both IN
the forms and the colors introduced. yell
low in blazonry is the equivalent of gold.
and white Of silver and Il is one of the
requirements of heraldry that color shan
not be placed upon color, or metal upon
metal" Apart from the Conveutionaiity
of this rule, it is correct artistically. as
can be seen by contrasting the effect OF
the French tri-color. where the red and the
blue are separated by the metal, white.
with that of the Haytian flag, where the
red and the blue are in juxtaposition.
Further IL is easier to distinguish a flae
designed heraldically from one designed
without attention TO the laws of blazonry:
and that fact is probably at the bottom of
the heraldc rule.
Red, white. and blue are the commonest
colors in flags yellow is not uncommon;
orange occurs only once, in the flag of the
Grange Free State. green occurs a few
times, and black is still less frequent.
The origin of the union in the British
flag is wen known. The red upright cross
Is that Of st. George. for England; the red
diagonal cross is that of st. Patrick for
Ireland; and the white diagonal that
peeps out below St. Patrick's Is that OF
st. Andrew for Scotland. There was a
great row over the arrangement of the un-
ion flag, long before the cross of St
Patrick was placed on It. Between 1903 and
1919 the English placed their cross on top,
the Scotch placed theirs on top In fact
the Irish have never quarrelled over the
position of their cross on the Union flag.
MIR. Hume thinks that this proved thai
the Irish are satisfied with the Union: bu,
that's as may be,
The Scotch made a row over the position
of the Scottish lion in the royal stand.
ard, too. That standard (really banner
as Mr.. Hume says, Is quarterly; first
and fourth quarters, the British lions: see.
ond quarter the Scotch lion; third ,fuar.
ter, the Irish harp. The Scotch wanted
10 be first; and just as they changed the
ST. Andrews cross on the Union, so or
the royal standard used in North Britain
they put their lion In the first and fourth
quarters. and the English lions in second
place. The Scotch are dour people. MOI
easily pleased, but If they liked to do So
IT is none of our business, and the Eng.
fish seem not to have cared greatly, eno
the Irish not at all.
We have our national flag and differ.
ent nag for our revenue cutters. and GU
yachts. Great Britain, leaving out its roy.
al standard, has a merchant flag and a
naval ensign, Union flag and blue en-.
sign The Union flag, which is an en-.
largement of the Union in the merchant
nag we see everywhere, is hoisted by tn,
various governors, who display different
badges on it, the red ensign, with different
badges, is shown by the different colonies
and some yacht clubs fly the naval ensign
others the naval reserve or blue ensign
and other bodies have other flags Ii
would take a long study and constant
practice to identify every British appear.
ing flag that one would see in coins
around the world
Mr.. Hulme runs over the flags of the
various countries of the world, telling
about their origin. The Austrian Hunza-
ran flag combines the flags of the tive
monarchies, the upper third of the fae
rs red, the second third Is white. one-halt
of the lower third is red, making half the
flag red, white. red, the Austrian flag. the
second half of the lower third is green
producing the Hungarian colots Wheu
the emperor visits the Austrian fleet. he
IS saluted with twenty~one guns and DC.
teen cheers, field marshal gets nineteen
guns and eleven cheers, a General tbir-
teen and seven, a commodore eleven md
three, and every other rank gets its prop
er allowance of gun powder and vocal
music.
The first French flag was blue, the Chape
de st. Martin, believed to be the part OF the
cape that st. Martin divided with the beg
gar. In time the scarlet flag Of st. Denis
ousted the blue flag, but it went down al
Agincourt In 1415. The lilies of France were
added to the blue flag at a very early date
Henry Ill. who was a Protestant, adopted
as his banner the Huguenots' white flag,
and the lilies were soon added 10 it, Both
white and blue flags disappeared during
the revolution, when the tricolor replaced
them, to last until 1875, when the white tri-
color returned. and has stayed up TO the
time OF going to press. During the first
and second empires the white stripe bore
an eagle, and the entire flag was dapered
with the Napoleonic bees.
The Spanish royal standard Is most COM
plicated. The red and yellow Of the Span
ish flag is said to be derived from this oc-
currence: In 1888 Charles the Bold dipped
his fingers in the blood OF Godfrey, Count
of Barcelona, and drew them down the
counts golden shield, In token of his APP
preclatlOn OF the IatterS bravery. The
shield SO marked became the arms of
Barcelona, which became part of Arragon.
and its arms were taken by that kingdom.
Now to the royal standard. In the first
quarter or upper left hand part OF the
flag, are the arms of Leon and CASTLE, the
lion and the castle: the second quarter is
taken up, one-half by the arms of ARA
gon, one-half blythe arms of Sicily. The
upper third Of the third quarter directly
under the firsD shows the Austrian colors
the lower two-thirds is divided between
the flag of Burgundy and the black lion
Of Flanders; the upper third of the fourth
quarter shows the chequers. another Bur
gundlan device, while the lower two-thirds
is shared by the red eagle of Antwerp and
the golden lion of Brabant, and on top OF
all this are two Shields one showing the
Portuguese arms, the other the French
fieur-de lys. That's some potatoes of a flag
evidently.
The old Papal states used the yellow and
white flag of the kingdom of Jerusalem,
which Godfrey of Bouillon Is said to have
chosen In defiance of the laws OF heraldry,
i'm order that IL might be unlike any other
banner. He is said to have based his choice
on a verse in the Psalms: Though We
have lien amongst the pots, yet shall We be
as the wings of a dove covered with sill
yer, and her feathers with yellow gold"