The Olneyville times. (Olneyville [Providence, R.I.]) 1887-1917, 1915-01-29

When they combined into single en-
pire, however, traces Of all their flags
were combined in the resultant stand
| ard.
To be sure, the colors of Prussia
black and white-and the Prussian
eagle enter very largely into ii, but 1t
must be remembered that this country
became ut that time the head and
ruler OF all the others. Besides the
smaller states. there were also the
flags Of last and West Prussia to be
included. That Of West Prussia was
black, white, black, three stripes OF
equal dia meter, running the length or
the flag. That of East Prussia con
sisted Of two such stripes, the upper
black and the lower white. The
"jack" of the imperial navy consists
Of three horizontal stripes, the upper
black, the middle white and the lower
red. The much priced iron cross dat
ing back 10 the end of the twelfth cen
tury) Is IN the center This red stripe
appears in the final war ensign of the
empire, In which the tricolor (black,
white, red) appears I'm the upper quar-
ter, with the iron cross upon 1t, while
the remaining three-quarters are white,
with the royA arms in the center. A
black cross divides the whole flag into
quarters.
The 6aG of Austria is a very com
plex affair To begin with, the various
Austrian provinces have their own
flags. Bohemia Is redwhite, Tyrol Is
white-red, Dalmatia is blue-yellow, Ga
licIa is blue-red. Croatia is red-white-
blue and .Istria is yellow white-blue
Then aga N, Austria Hungary being a
dual monarchy, both Austria and Hun
gary muH be separately represented
and fully on the flag. Fortunately
this combination was rendered more
easy by the fact that portions of the
flags Of both countries were already
the same. Thus, the Austrian flag was
red red. the Hungarian was red
white-green. Compromise was effect
ed by dividing the lowest horizontal
stripe In two, and leaving half red
while the remainder was green. The
arms Of 10th countries also appear on
the flag. This was decided upon March
9, 1869.
The imI erial standard of the czar of
all the X Issias Is of brilliant yellow,
In the cer ter Of. which Is large dou-
bic headed black eagle. This flag dates
from the year 1472, when Ivan the
Great married Sophia, niece OF Con
stantine Palaeologus, and thence as
sumed the arms of the Greek empire.
On the b east Of the eagle Is an es-
cutcheon bearing on its red field in sill
yer the figure of st. George Staying
the dragon, the whole being surround
ed by the collar of the Order of st
Andrew. On the displayed wings OF
the eagle are other shields bearing
tho arms of Kiev. Novgorod, Vladi
mir, Kas; n, etc. The Russian union
Jack is very similar to that OF Eng
land, save that the principal crossbars
are blue instead of red. This Is the
well known Russian war flag. The
cross is that Of st. Andrew, the patron
saint OF Russia.
The wei known tricolor of France
is made up of three stripes-blue
{ white and red-running not the length
but the width of the flag. 1t dates
from the ,ra of the French revolution
and came into existence in 17S9. II
ha, been the national dag since, Will
but slight variations. In l70l the tri
color was also made the jack of the
French navy.
I'he uni)n jack of Great Britain Is
composed Of the three crosses OF II
George. st. Patrick and st. Andrew
That of the first was broad red cross
dividing the white flag into four white
squares; the white cross of st. An
drew. on a blue background, ran from
corner to corner diagonally, while The
red cross of st. Patrick ran In the san
direction. If the union jack he exam
ined IL Will be found TO be composed
of these tlree crosses, as stated Th'
fiaa was first unfurled I'm 1901, on TIT
union In that year of Great Britain
England. Scotland and Wales) am
Ireland.
The flag of Belgium is composed o
a tricolor- black, yellow and red-run
ming up aid downfall is. the wldtI
AMI not the length OF the flag. tn
royal stan lard has the arms placed Il
tho center of the yellow strip Thi
was adop-ed as the national nag u
1851, bein. originally the colors of th
duchy Of 3rabant.
From LII until 1906 Belgium be
: longed to Austria. but on the latte
date Il fell into the hands of Spaii
In 1896 and for some years folioWin
Il was held by France. and IN Isl
was hanoed over tn the Prince
Orange. bat In 1890 the Beig1ns ros
agsinst the Hollanders and establishe
their INDEPENDENCE. The ilag which
now nown was then adopted. -Wasl
ington Post.