The Ocala evening star. [volume] (Ocala, Fla.) 1895-1943, 1914-10-13
IRELAND'S MANY FLAGS
COUNTRY HAS HAD NUMEROUS
EM8LEMs or SOVEREIGNTY.
Harp, Deemed by Most People as Typ
icaIly Irish, Was Really imposed
Upon the Country BY an
English King.

-
What flag shall Ireland fly? This
is a question that is again being dis
cussed, writes q London correspond
,,nt of the New York Sun.
Probably no country has had more
national flags than Ireland, so that OF
old-time flags range of choice Ia by no
mtians restricted. The most ancient,
without doubt, is the Spear and Ser
pent, said to commemorate the cur
ing by Moses Of an ancestor Of Mile
sius who had been bitten by snake.
Then there IL the golden sunburst
upon blue ground, emblem OF Fionn
MacCumhall's Fenian lmilitial Blue
was always Ireland's national color
until 1898, when the United Irishmen,
to signify the blending Of north and
south evolved q national color or the
blue formed by the amalgamatiOn OF
blue and orange namely, green.
Another flag is that which Crom-
wells soldiers are reputed to have
seen when fighting the Kernes, red
cross upon a golden ground. Opinions
as to whether such was ever ma
tional emblem or not are divided,
many people believing 1t TO have been
the arms of an insurgent commander.
The three golden crowns upon a
blue ground is another emblem which
has not been overlooked. The design
appears today In the arms Of Mum
/ ster. and the three crowns are said
to typify the triple kingdoms OF Ores
,mond, Thomond and Orm0nd. Any
way, this flag was the emblem OF Ire
land from ITO to 1547, when Henry
VIII Of England substituted the harp
for the three crowns, the reason be-
ing that Henry was anxious that the
three crowns should not be confused
with the triple tiara OF the pope, with
whom, at this juncture, Henry was
4 not on the best of terms.
Il Thus it comes about that the harp,
j which is. deemed as typicaIly Irish,
was imposed upon Ireland by an Eng
lish king; but had not the United
Irishmen, although they decrowned
the harp In 1898, adopted It as their
emblem, and Grattan's parliament
recognized the harp, although they
hardly likely that the average Irish
J man today would regard II as other
than an upstart burgee.
!, Still another national device 20 be
considered is the Lamb Eeare
Eirinn,' the Red Hand Of Ireland
which, upon a white ground, was
borne by Shane and Hugh o'Neilrl
armies that defeated Queen Eliza
beth's generals.
: The early hours OF the nineteenth
$ century saw Ireland inflicted with tht
ST. Patrick's Cross. red satire upoT
i O. white ground. What St. Patrick
! had to do with it nobody can say, but
some emblem or the other had got
to be Incorporated in the British fae
upon the passing OF the act OF union
; and SO the heralds did the rest
: Wherever they got the red satire from
t it Is not known, but there IL
reason to believe that It was Dor
rowed from the arms Of Trinity col
lege, Dublin, which had In turn Dor
rowed it from the Fitzgerald family
IN all probability Ireland viii
s adopt the sunburst upon blue
ground, the chief reason being It's an
: tiquity. It's distinctly Irish origin. and
+ its symbolism OF Ireland rising &c
take her proper place among the ma
tons.
But come what may. the ground
OF the new flag Is going to be blue
The Sim Peiners are resolved upon
, that, and that the flags material shall
not be silk or cotton, but good Irish
linen.