Phillipsburg herald. [volume] (Phillipsburg, Kan.) 1882-1905, 1903-01-29
ENaLANDs NATIONAL FLAa
There is No Common Agreement as to
What It Is.


What 1t Is.
To judge from the correspondence
which we lately printed, there would
seem to be no little confusion of mind
Ill many quarters concerning the char
acter, the use, and even the identity of
the national flag, says the London
Times There is, indeed, no common
agreement as to what the national flag
is. Lord Hawkesbury insists that it is
the red ensign and nothing else. No
DOUBT ne is right in the sense that the
led ensign proclaims the nationality of
the unpriVileged British merchant yes
sci. and Is the only flag that can law
fully be displayed by such a vessel as
the recognized symbol of its national
lty. But II the red ensign is the only
nag that can properly be called nation
al, how comes 1t that the flag flying at
the Victoria Tower, whenever parlia-
ment Is sitting, is not the red ensign,
but the union jack?
The question is not altogether with
out difficulty, perhaps. But with all
respect for Lord Hawkesbury, we must,
as at present advised, hold the better
opinion to be that the union jack is the
national flag properly so called, the red
ensign being that form of 1t which is
prescribed by law as the symbol of the
nationality of every British vessel at
sea, not being man-of-war or a YES
sci otherwise privileged to wear a diff
terent ensign. That the royal standard
IS not the national flag, nor a national
rag IN any sense, is proposition too
clear TO admit of dispute 1t is the per-
sonal flag of the sovereign, and can be
displayed by subject only by special
permission Of the sovereign, and this,
from the nature Of the case, is very
rarely accorded. This is established
beyond a doubt by the letter of Lord
Knollys to the Vicar of St. Michaels
Folkstone, which we printed on June 7.
The vicar stated that his congregation
had spent G10 in buying a royal stan
dard thinking that they would be able
to fly the flag from the church tower.
az usual" and he asked that an excep-
ton might be made in their favor. Sir
Francis Knollys, as he then was, re-
piled that the royal standard, which
is the kings personal flag, can only be
hOisted at the coronation. If permits
sion were given in one case 1t would be
impossible to refuse 1t in any other.
| must remind you" he added, how
ever, that you can always fly the union
jack"
1t would seem from this that, in the
opinion of the kings private secretary
which, we may be sure, was not light
ly given-the proper flag to fly on any
festive occasion is the union jack. Lord
Hawkesbury might urge, perhaps, that
this is merely an obiter dictum, and
that 1t does not finally establish the
title Of the union jack to be regarded
as the only true national flag But
surely this question is decided by the
fact that the union jack is feature
common, and the only feature common,
to all ensigns, whether white red, or
blue, which are worn by British ships
at sea- Ensigns are not merely flags;
they are essentially distinguishing
flags
White, red, and blue ensigns are one
and all symbols Of British nationality
as distinct from all other natiOnalities,
and, as between themselves, they dis
tinguish different classes of categories
of British ships. The display Of the
union jack as the international mark of
all three, the color Of the "fy" being
only a municipal distinction, so to
speak. The same conclusion seems to
follow, also, from the history and struc-
ture of the union jack This flag is
combination of the original national
flags Of the three countries now consol-
idated into the United Kingdom. The
original national flag of England was
the red cross of St. George, a rectangu-
lar red cross on white ground. The
original national flag of Scotland was
che cross Of St. Andrew, a diagonal
white cross or satire on a blue ground.
The original national flag of Ireland,
said to have been borrowed from the
arms Of the Geraldines, was a red sal
tire on a white ground.