The mirror. (Stillwater, Minn.) 1894-1925, 1920-04-15
Ireland's Many FLAGS


What flag shall Ireland fly? This is a
question that is again being discussed,
writes London correspondent Of the New
York Sun.
Probably no country has had more ma
tional flags than Ireland, so that of old
time flags range of choice is by no means
restricted. The most ancient, without
doubt, is the "Spear and Serpent" said to
commemorate the curing by Moses of an an
cestor of Milesius who had been bitten by
snake. Then there is the golden sun
burst upon blue ground, emblem of
Fionn MacCumhall's Fenian (militia) !.
Blue was always Ireland's national color
until 1898, when the United Irishmen, to
signify the blending of north and south
evolved national color of the blue formed
by the amalgamation of blue and orange
namely, green.
Another flag is that which CromwelPs
soldiers are reputed to have seen when
fighting the Kernes, red cross upon a
golden ground. Opinions as to whether
such was ever national emblem or not
are divided, many people believing it to
have been the arms of an insurgent COM
mander.
The three golden crowns upon blue
ground is another emblem which has not
been overlooked. The design appears to-
day in the arms of Munster, and the
three crowns are said to typify the triple
kingdoms of Dresmond, Thomond and
Ormond. Anyway, this flag was the en-
blem of Ireland 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 not on the best
of terms.
Thus it comes about that the harp,
which is deemed as typically Irish, was
imposed upon Ireland by an English king;
but had not the United Irishmen, although
they decrowned the harp in 1898, adopted
it as their emblem, and Grattan's parlia-
ment recognized the harp, although they
did not like the green ground, it is hard
ly that the average Irishman today would
regard it as other than an upstart burgee.
Still another national device to be con-
sidered is the Lamh Dearg Eirinn," the
Red Hand of Ireland, which, upon a
white ground, was borne by Shane and
Hugh O'Neill's armies that defeated
Queen Elizabeth's generals.
The early hours of the nineteenth CEN
fury saw Ireland inflicted with the St.
Patrick's Cross, red satire upon 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 flag upon the passing of the
act of union, and so the heralds did the
rest. Wherever they got the red satire
from it is not known, but there is reason
to believe that it was borrowed from the
arms of Trinity college, Dublin, which
had in turn borrowed it from the Fitz-
gerald family.
In all probability Ireland will adopt
the sunburst upon blue ground, the chief
reason being its antiquity, its distinctly
Irish origin, and its symbolism of Ire
land rising to take her proper place
| among the nations.
| But come what may, the ground of the
new flag is going to be blue. The Sim
Feiners are resolved upon that, and that
the flags material shall not be silk or cot
ton, but good Irish linen.-Exchange.