Army Flags--the Queen's Colour--the Regimental Colour--the Honours and
Devices--the Flag of the 24th Regiment--Facings--Flag of the King's Own
Borderers--What the Flag Symbolises--Colours of the Guards--the Assaye
Flag--Cavalry Flags--Presentation of Colours--Chelsea College
Chapel--Flags of the Buffs in Canterbury Cathedral--Flags of the
Scottish Regiments in St. Giles's Cathedral--Burning of Rebel Flags by
the Hangman--Special Flags for various Official Personages--Special
Flags for different Government Departments--The Lord High Admiral--The
Mail Flag--White Ensign of the Royal Yacht Squadron--Yacht Ensigns and
Burgees--House or Company Flags--How to express Colours with Lines--the
Allan Tricolor--Port Flags--the British Empire--the Colonial Blue
Ensign and Pendant--the Colonial Defence Act--Colonial Mercantile
Flag--Admiralty Warrant--Flag of the Governor of a Colony--the Green
Garland--the Arms of the Dominion of Canada--Badges of the various
Colonies--Daniel Webster on the Might of England--Bacon on the Command
of the Ocean.
Having now dealt with the Union Flag and the Red and Blue Ensigns, we
proceed to see how these are modified by the addition of various devices
upon them.
The flags of the army claim the first place in our regard. Each infantry
regiment has two "colours," one being called the "Queen's Colour," and the
other the "Regimental Colour." On turning to Barret's "Theorike and
Practike of Modern Warres," a book published in the year 1598, we find the
following passage:--"We Englishmen do call them of late colours, by reason
of the variety of colours they be made of, whereby they be the better noted
and known." This we may doubtless accept as a sufficient explanation of the
word, and the passage is interesting, too, as approximately fixing a date
for the introduction of the term, and showing that it has been in use for
at least three hundred years.
The Queen's Colour in every regiment of the line is the flag of the Union,
Fig. 90, bearing in its centre the Imperial crown and the number of the
regiment beneath it in Roman figures worked in gold, and its territorial
designation.
The regimental Colour is of the colour of the facings of the regiment,
except when these are white, in which case the body of the flag is not
plain white all over, but bears upon it the Cross of St. George. Whatever
the colour, it bears in its upper corner the Union, and in the centre of
the flag the crown and title of {62} the regiment, and around it whatever
devices, or badges, or other distinctions have been specially conferred
upon it, together with the names of the actions in which the regiment has
taken part, the records of its gallant service in many a hard-fought
struggle in the Peninsula, on the sultry plains of India, beneath the
burning sun of Africa, or wherever else the call of honour and of duty has
added to its laurels. Thus the regimental flag of the 1st regiment of the
line bears the proud record--St. Lucia, Egmont-op-Zee, Egypt, Corunna,
Busaco, Salamanca, Vittoria, St. Sebastian, Nive, Peninsula, Niagara,
Waterloo, Nagpore, Maheidpore, Ava, Alma, Inkermann, Sebastopol, and
several other records of struggles in which they bore gallant share; and
many another regiment could show as fine a record of service.
In Fig. 94 we have a representation of the regimental colour of the 24th
Regiment. As the facings of this distinguished corps are green,[45] the
body of the flag is of that colour. Beneath its territorial designation
will be seen its special badge, the Sphinx, bestowed upon it for
distinguished service in Egypt, and around are grouped the names of famous
victories which it contributed to win.
The 24th Regiment, now in the territorial arrangement in vogue known as the
2nd Warwickshire, was first formed in the year 1689. In 1776 it embarked
for Canada and greatly distinguished itself in the American struggle. In
1801 we find it in Egypt, where by its gallantry it won the right to bear
the Sphinx.[46] From 1805 to 1810 it was fighting its way along at the Cape
of Good Hope, and then went on to India. In 1829 we find it sent off to
Canada again to suppress rebellion, and it did not return to England till
1841. In 1846 we see it in the thick of the Punjaub struggle, taking its
part right well in the brilliant engagements of Chillianwallah and
Goojerat, and in 1857 it is in the thick of the sanguinary Mutiny in India;
and, after fifteen years in India, lands in 1861 in England once more. In
1874 we find it again at the Cape of Good Hope, and in 1877-78 engaged in
the Kaffir war, and in all times and in all places taking a gallant share
in upholding the national cause.
In 1804 a second battalion was added to the regiment. This only existed ten
years, but in that time it earned by its distinguished {63} bravery the
names of the Peninsula battles for the flag,[47] and at the conclusion of
the struggle it was so weak in numbers that it was disembodied. In 1858 a
new second battalion was formed, and did good service in Burmah, South
Africa, etc. Both battalions were in Zululand in 1879, and with the
exception of one hundred men detailed for special duty, the regiment, save
nine men, was wiped out of existence in the fatal field of Isandhlwana.
Lieutenants Melville and Coghill tore the colours from their staffs and
wrapped them around their bodies, and after the fight was over and the
enemy had retired they were recovered. On the arrival of the colours in
England they were taken by Royal Command to Osborne, where the Queen
fastened to each a wreath of immortelles, and bestowed on the two dead
heroes the Victoria Cross as the highest acknowledgment then possible to
her of her deep appreciation of the sacrifice that these young gallant
officers had made for her, for England, and for the honour of the flag. The
colours, therefore, that we have represented in Fig. 94, in all their broad
blazon of gallant service, even in the hour of defeat never fell into the
hands of the enemy, to be hung in triumph in some Zulu kraal, but were
brought back in honour and proud rejoicing, since defeat so valiantly met
was no disgrace, and the honour of the flag and of the gallant 24th was
without stain.
As one more illustration of regimental colours we may instance those of the
25th Regiment, the King's Own Borderers. Here the groundwork of the flag is
blue, with, of course, the Union in the upper corner next the staff. In the
centre of the flag is a representation of Edinburgh Castle, and within a
band the words, "King's Own Borderers." Outside this we have a wreath of
rose, shamrock, and thistle, surmounted by the crown. Below this is a
sphinx for service in Egypt, and below this again the word "Martinique." On
either side is inscribed "Minden" and "Egmont op Zee," and above all,
"Afghanistan." In the upper outer angle of the flag is the lion on the
crown and the motto "_In veritate religionis confido_," and in the lower
outer angle the white horse of Hanover and the motto "_Nec aspera
terrent_."[48] This was originally known as the Edinburgh Regiment, as it
was raised in four hours in 1689 to defend that city; but George III., for
some reason more or less {64} satisfactory to himself, changed the name to
the one it has ever since borne--the King's Own Borderers.
In the year 1811 the Prince Regent, on behalf of the King, issued an order
to regulate the colours of the Army, and, amongst other things, sanctioned
the custom that had sprung up of inscribing the names of victories on the
flags. The custom of inscribing these honours, the names of the actions
fought, did not begin till the battle of Minden, so that the victories of
Marlborough and all other glorious achievements prior to the year 1759
would have gone unrecorded; but in July, 1881, sanction was given for the
Grenadiers and the 1st, 3rd, 8th, 10th, 15th, 16th, 18th, 21st, 23rd, 24th,
26th, and 27th Regiments of the Line to add Blenheim and Ramilies to their
colours. Oudenarde, Malplaquet, and Dettingen[49] were also added to the
colours of those regiments that were there engaged.
By the "Queen's Regulations" these colours are required to be of silk, and
to be three feet nine inches in length and three feet in breadth; the cords
and tassels are to be of mixed crimson and gold; the staff is to be eight
feet seven inches long, and surmounted by a golden crown on which stands a
lion. They are to be carried on parade by the two junior lieutenants, and
guarded by two sergeants and two privates. These form what is called "the
colour party." The distinguishing badge of the colour-sergeant consists of
crossed colours, embroidered on the sleeve above the chevrons of his rank.
It has taken something like a thousand years of time to build up the
British Empire, while the lavish outlay of toil and forethought of
statesmen, the ceaseless spending of blood and treasure, the brilliant
strategy by land and sea of a long line of distinguished commanders have
all contributed to its birth and proud maintenance; and of all this
devotion in the past and the determination to uphold it in the future, the
flag is the living concrete symbol. It is the flag beneath whose folds
Nelson and Wellington and countless heroes more were carried to their rest;
it waved in triumph on the Heights of Abraham, and its honour was safe with
Elliot at Gibraltar; it was unfurled on many a battlefield in the
Peninsula, and nerved the arms of those who scaled the heights of the Alma
and stood unconquerable in the stubborn fight of Inkerman; and it waved
triumphant in the breeze at Sebastopol. The sight of it was strength,
comfort, and hope in the dark days of Lucknow and Cawnpore. It floated, a
symbol of duty, over the heroes of the burning _Birkenhead_, and to Ross,
Parry, Franklin and McClure, in the icy wastes of the far North it was an
incentive to renewed {65} effort and a symbol of home. It was the flag of
Speke and Livingstone in savage Africa, of Burke and Wills in their
explorations in Australia; and for the honour of England that it symbolises
men have thought no sacrifice too great.
The Queen's Colour is a pledge of loyalty to the Sovereign, an emblem of
the unity of all, while the second colour deals with the honour that
specially appertains to each regiment--a subject of legitimate pride in the
past and an incentive to prove not unworthy in the future of those who
gained it such distinction.
For some recondite reason the Guards reverse the arrangement that holds in
the Line regiments, as with them the Queen's Colour is crimson and bears
the regimental devices and honours, while the Union Flag is the Regimental
Colour. William IV., in 1832, gave the Grenadier Guards a special flag of
crimson silk, bearing in its centre the royal cypher W.R., interlaced in
gold, and having grouped together in the four corners the rose, thistle,
and shamrock.
The Governor-General in India issued in the year 1803 a general order that
all the regiments engaged in Wellington's greatest Indian
victory--Assaye--should be entitled to the special distinction of a third
flag, and the Royal authority confirmed the honour. This flag, borne by the
74th Highlanders, the 78th or Ross-shire Buffs, and other distinguished
regiments, was of white silk, having in its centre an elephant, beneath
this the regimental number, and around it a wreath. On blue bands above and
below were inscribed in gold the words Assaye and Seringapatam. In the year
1830 the general use on parade of these flags was discontinued by order,
and they were reserved for very special occasions.
The number of colours borne by the different regiments was formerly very
irregular: sometimes it was one to a company, sometimes only one to a whole
regiment, now it is two to each battalion. During the eighteenth century
several regiments carried three colours, and the 5th, or Northumberland
Fusiliers, continued to do so until 1833. By an unfortunate accident these
were then all burnt, and when the question of granting new colours came
forward, the right to carry the third was objected to, and the claim had to
be surrendered. King Charles's Royal Regiment of Foot Guards lost eleven
out of thirteen colours at Edgehill.
The Standards carried by the Life Guards, Horse Guards, and Dragoon Guards
are of crimson silk, thirty inches by twenty-seven; and the guidons of the
dragoon regiments are forty-one inches by twenty-seven, are slit in the fly
and have the outer corners rounded off. The tassels and cords are of
crimson silk and gold, and each flag bears the Royal or other title of the
regiment in letters of gold in a circle, and beneath it the number of the
regiment, all being surmounted by the crown, surrounded by a {66} wreath of
rose, shamrock, and thistle, and the honours. Where a regiment has a
particular badge, such device will be placed in the centre, and the
territorial and numerical position placed outside; thus the Scots Greys
(the 2nd Royal Dragoons) bear as their badge the Imperial Eagle of France,
because at Waterloo this distinguished regiment captured the eagle of the
French 45th Regiment, on which were inscribed the words Jena, Austerlitz,
Wagram, Eylau, and Friedland.[50] The 3rd Dragoons have as their badge the
white horse of Hanover, and, as record of good service, Salamanca,
Vittoria, Toulouse, Peninsula, Cabool, Moodkee, Sobraon, Ferozeshah,
Punjaub, Chillianwallah, Goojerat. The Lancers and Hussars, like the Royal
Engineers, the Royal Artillery, and the Rifle Brigade, have no colours, and
therefore bear their badges, devices, etc., on their appointments. Thus,
for instance, King George II. ordered the 17th Light Dragoons (now the 17th
Lancers) to wear the device of the skull and cross-bones, and beneath it
the words "or glory" on the front of their caps and on the left breast.
This device the "Death or Glory Boys" still retain, like the famous
Pomeranian Horse and the Black Brunswickers, continental corps from whom
the Anglo-Hanoverian monarch doubtless derived the idea.[51]
The presentation of colours to a regiment is always an imposing ceremony,
as with prayer of consecration, martial music, and stirring address they
are delivered into its custody, but the bestowal of the old colours in some
honoured place of safe keeping is yet more impressive. In the one case
there are the hopes and dangers of the future, while in the other the hopes
have all been abundantly realised, the dangers triumphantly passed, as the
tattered colours--storm tossed, torn by shot and shell--are borne in honour
to their last resting place, where, strife for ever over, they rest in
peace in the Sanctuary of God, a memorial to all men, until their last
shreds fall to decay, of duty nobly and fully done.
Visitors to Canterbury Cathedral will scarcely fail to have noticed the
flags therein suspended. The colours of the 1st Battalion of the Buffs (the
East Kent Regiment) there find fitting resting place, and the last of these
were added so lately as October, 1892.[52] On their entrance, with imposing
military ceremony, into the {67} Cathedral, they were met by the clergy and
choir, and a hymn of thanksgiving for victory and of safe return from war
was sung, commencing--
"Grateful, we bring from lands afar,
Torn, shattered, but unstained,
Banners that Thy servant blessed
Ere the stern conflict came;
Lord, let their fragments ever rest
Where dwells Thy Holy name."
After a short service of prayer and praise the Dean of Canterbury addressed
the great congregation. It might be asked, he said, why they, who were the
Ministers of the Prince of Peace, should take such interest in these
military proceedings. It was because they recognised in them the greatest
force for peace that there was in our land, for it was through them that
this country of ours had not been trampled for centuries under the feet of
any foreign foe, it was through them that the _Pax Britannica_ prevailed,
and that everywhere where the British Flag was present it carried with it
peace, and tranquillity, and justice. It was through the help of the army
that the peaceful people of this country could carry on their avocations
and serve God and do His work in peace; and therefore the clergy gratefully
acknowledged their services, and hoped and prayed that everywhere the
colours of each regiment might still be not only unstained, but covered
with laurels in struggling for right and for justice.
Colonel Hobson then addressed the vast audience, reminding the younger
soldiers present that the regiment to which they had the honour to belong
was formed more than three hundred years ago, and was, therefore, the
oldest in the Army. It had won honour and renown in every part of the
world, and the colours which they were that day appropriately laying to
rest in the Warriors' Chapel of Canterbury Cathedral represented as
glorious a record as that of any regiment in the British Army. The earliest
existence of the regiment dated from the movement set on foot in this
country in the latter half of the sixteenth century, to assist the cause of
civil and religious liberty in the Netherlands. The dragon, which is on the
colours, was the crest of the City of London, from whose Trained Bands the
regiment was formed in 1572; and the regimental march, so familiar to them
all, was given them by Queen Elizabeth. After enumerating some few of the
services that the regiment had rendered, he concluded by saying:--"The few
words I have still to say I want you young soldiers especially to listen to
and to take to heart. The colours of a regiment are symbolical of what
ought to be the watchword of an army--duty; the Queen's Colours--duty to
{68} your Sovereign and to your country; the Regimental Colours--duty
towards the regiment. In these days the material side of the profession of
arms is much insisted upon, but I tell you that an army without something
higher than that, however well cared for in other respects, is a bad army,
and that when thoughtfulness and care for the good name of a regiment is
sacrificed for selfish, individual advancement, the regiment, as a whole,
will suffer. The spirit which animated the regiments of the British
Army--who placed those names, of which we are so proud to-day, on those
colours--was, duty first, self afterwards; and it will be a bad day for the
British Army if that spirit is ever allowed to depart from it. There was no
position in the army, however humble, in which men could not sustain the
credit and honour of their regiment and thus contribute to their country's
welfare."
The Dean thereupon solemnly accepted the care of the colours and pronounced
the Benediction, and the whole audience then joined heart and voice, with
thrilling effect, in singing the National Anthem.
It seems so natural to write of England and of Englishmen, so stilted to
put Great Britain and Ireland, that one may possibly forget that,
comprehensive as we intend the terms to be, we may, perhaps, wound the
susceptibilities of our fellow subjects and brother Britons across the
Tweed. Let us then turn to a companion picture, and see how, with equal
honour and devotion, the flags of our gallant Highlanders are borne to
their rest.
A movement was, some time ago, set on foot to gather in the old flags from
the various Scottish regiments and to place them all in the Cathedral
Church of Edinburgh. This was effected, and the perspective effect of
these, as they line the nave on either side, is very fine. The oldest
colours there are those of the 82nd, the Duke of Hamilton's regiment,
presented in the year 1782, and still in excellent preservation.
When on November 14th, 1883, the old colours borne by the various Scottish
regiments were deposited in St. Giles' Cathedral, they were escorted in all
honour and military pomp from the Castle; and says one who was there: "When
the colours came in sight, the multitude raised a shout and cheered, but
the impulse was but momentary, for at sight of the array of shattered rags
the noise of the tumult died away, and a half-suppressed sound was heard as
through the hearts of the people there flashed a thrill of mingled pride
and pain. Those who saw it will never forget the scene. In the centre the
tattered silk of the Colours, and on the fringe and in the background a
wonder-stricken crowd, as past uncovered heads, past dimmed eyes and
quivering lips, the old flags were carried."
When the flags had been received with service of prayer and {69} praise,
the meaning of it all was summed up in burning words of love, devotion, and
pride. "We have gathered to-day," said the speaker, "for a noble
purpose--to receive with all honour into this national church these flags,
which have been borne by our soldiers through many a hard fight and in many
a distant land. 'In the name of the Lord,' said the inspired Psalmist long
ago, 'we will set up our banners.' In the spirit in which he spoke, these
banners were first unfurled; and in that great Name they were blessed by
God's ministers ere they were committed to those who were to carry them, as
a testimony that, as a nation, we believe in God, and desire that He should
guide our destinies alike in war and in peace; and now, after the lapse of
years, they are brought back to rest in God's house as a testimony to the
same truth, that we acknowledge Him as the supreme source of all our
national success and greatness. 'Thine, O Lord, is the greatness and the
power, and the victory, and the majesty! Both riches and honour come of
Thee, and in Thine hand it is to make great and to give strength unto all.'
It is in this spirit that we place these emblems in Scotland's great
historic church. The associations that gather around these faded banners
are of the tenderest and most touching kind. They are such as cause the
heart to swell and the tear to come to the eye. Few, I feel sure, in this
vast assemblage have not felt in some degree their power. There are
soldiers here whom they carry back to old days, and to comrades with whom
they stood shoulder to shoulder in many a perilous hour. The old flag has
for the British soldier a meaning so deep and powerful that it is
impossible to put it into words. It is but a piece of silk, often faded and
tattered, and rent with shot: but it is a symbol, and symbols are amongst
the most sacred things on earth. It means for the soldier his Queen and his
country, and all the honour, loyalty, truth, and heroism they demand of
him. Therefore it is that men will follow their colours down into the
dreadful pit, and would be willing to die twice for them rather than let
them be taken by an enemy; and in the hour of defeat, like the heroes of
Isandlwhana, will fall pierced through with wounds, but with these precious
symbols, still untarnished, wrapped around them. And though to the peaceful
citizen these emblems can never mean all they stand for to those who have
served under them, even to him, as they hang here, they may speak of things
that it is good for him to remember. They may well tell him of the history
of his country, and the wonderful way by which God has led her, and of the
brave men He has raised up to fight for her. Nor can we help specially
remembering that these are the colours of our Scottish regiments. Scotland
is a poor country compared to the great neighbour with whom it is happily
united, but it possesses a distinct national life {70} of its own which all
true Scotchmen would not willingly let die. We are proud of our Scotch
regiments. We feel that they, of the whole army, belong especially to
ourselves; and they too, as they have swept on to battle with the cry,
'Scotland for ever!' feel, we believe, that they belong specially to us.
Providence, said Napoleon sneeringly, is generally on the side of the
strongest battalions. Be it so; but will anyone deny that the character of
the soldier has much to do with the strength of the battalion they form?
And was it not the character of our soldiers--a character fostered by the
traditions of their native land, fostered still more, perhaps, by the
religious teaching of their native church and parish school--that made them
strong on many a memorable day, and never more than on that memorable day
at Waterloo, when the great commander I have named generously exclaimed, as
he saw his own ranks yielding before the onslaught, 'Les braves Ecossais!'
May the sight of these banners inspire every soldier who looks on them,
whether Lowland or Highland, to echo the desire to hand down the name they
bear without a blemish! And should the day ever come when we as a people
are tempted to succumb to sloth and luxury, first to undervalue, and
finally to give up, national power and privileges which are an heritage
from God, and have been dearly purchased by those who went before us--may
these emblems, and the stirring memories that cling to them, help us in
some degree to wake up the last drop of blood left in our hearts, and nerve
us to bear ourselves like the children of our sires. 'We have heard with
our ears, O God, and our fathers have told us, what Thou didst in their
days in the times of old. For they got not the land in possession by their
own sword, neither did their own arm save them, but Thy right hand and
Thine arm, and the light of Thy countenance, because Thou hadst a favour
unto them. Through Thee will we push down our enemies; through Thy name
will we tread them under that rise up against us.'" This impressive and
imposing ceremony closed with the magnificent "Hallelujah Chorus" of
Handel, and the final Benediction.
That colours do not always perish in honour may be seen by the following
extract from the _Scots' Magazine_ of June, 1746, where the citizens of
Edinburgh assisted at a very different function to the one we have just
described. "Fourteen rebel colours," says the ancient newsman, "taken at
Culloden, were brought into Edinburgh on the 31st May, and lodged in the
castle. On Wednesday, the 4th of June, at noon, they were brought down to
the Cross, the Pretender's own standard carried by the hangman, and the
rest by chimney sweepers. The sheriffs, accompanied by the heralds,
pursuivants, trumpeters, city constables, etc., and escorted by the city
guard, walked to the Cross, where a proclamation was {71} made that the
colours belonging to the rebels were ordered by the Duke of Cumberland to
be burnt by the hands of the common hangman. The Pretender's standard was
then put on a fire that had been prepared, and afterwards all the rest one
by one--a herald always proclaiming to whom each belonged, the trumpets
sounding, and the populace, of which there was a great number assembled,
huzzaing."
Various government officials have their special flags. The flag of the
Union having been established by "Queen's Regulations" for the naval
service, as the distinguishing flag to be borne by the admiral of the
fleet, great inconvenience arose from the use of the same flag when
military authorities, diplomatic and consular agents were embarking in
boats or other vessels; so it became necessary to make some modification in
the flag. It is therefore now ordered that a general or other officer
commanding a military station shall have, in the centre of the Union, a
blue shield bearing the Royal initials, surmounted by a crown and
surrounded by a garland; those in the diplomatic service shall have, in the
centre of the Union, a white shield bearing the Royal Arms, and surrounded
by a garland; while consuls-general, consuls, or consular agents have the
Blue Ensign as their distinguishing flag, and in the centre thereof the
Royal Arms. The flag of the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland is the Union, and in
its centre, as we may see in Fig. 106, a blue shield bearing the golden
harp.
Different Government Departments have their special flags also. Thus the
Transport Service has the blue ensign with a golden anchor, placed
horizontally, in the fly, while the Victualling Department has the blue
ensign again, but this time as shown in Fig. 98, with two crossed anchors.
On the blue ensign of the Board of Trade is found in the fly a white
circle, and within this a ship in full sail (see Fig. 105). The Ordnance
Department flag, represented in Fig. 108, bears a shield with cannons and
cannon balls upon it, while vessels and boats employed on submarine mining
service are authorized to carry the blue ensign with--as its special
badge--a hand issuing from a mural crown, and grasping a thunderbolt. The
Telegraph branch of the Post-Office has a very striking device: a
representation of Father Time with his hour glass smashed by lightning. The
red ensign is employed by the Custom House and the Excise, in the first
case having, as we see in Fig. 107, a golden crown in the fly, and, in the
second, a crown and star. The flag of the Admiralty is a very striking one
(Fig. 99). This association of the anchor with the Admiralty is a very
natural one; we see it not only in our English flag, but in those of
France, Italy, Germany, Russia, etc. Our Admiralty flag is hoisted on any
ship when the Commissioners {72} of the Admiralty are on board,[53] and it
is also hoisted at the fore top-gallant mast of every ship on which the
Queen may be on board. Vessels carrying Her Majesty's mail fly on the
fore-mast a white burgee, having in its centre a crown, and on one side of
it the word "Royal" and on the other "Mail"; the words Royal Mail and the
crown being in red on the white field of the flag.
The White Ensign, Fig. 95, the special flag of Her Majesty's Navy, is, by
very exceptional privilege, allowed to be flown by the Royal Yacht
Squadron. This distinction was conferred on that Club in the year 1829, the
Club itself being established in 1812.[54] In the old days, when the Royal
Navy used the red, white, and blue ensigns, the red ensign was of the
highest dignity; and it was this from 1821 to 1829 that the Royal Yacht
Squadron flew, but, as the red ensign was also used by merchant vessels,
they adopted in 1829 the white ensign as being more distinctive. In 1842
the Admiralty drew up a Minute that no warrant should be issued to any
other yacht club to fly the white ensign, and that those privileged Clubs
that already had it must henceforth forego it. Copies of the minute were
accordingly sent to the Royal Western of England, Royal Thames, Royal
Southern, and some two or three other clubs, but, by some oversight, the
Royal Western of Ireland was overlooked, and that Club continued to use the
white ensign until the mistake was discovered by the Admiralty in the year
1857. Since that date the Royal Yacht Squadron, which has always been under
the special patronage of Royalty, has been alone in its use. Its value is
purely sentimental; it carries no substantial privilege. A rather marked
case arose, in fact, to the contrary in 1883, when Lord Annesley's yacht,
the _Seabird_, was detained by the Turkish authorities at the Dardanelles
in consequence of her bearing the white ensign. No foreign man-of-war is
allowed to pass the Dardanelles without special permission; and the white
{73} ensign of the Royal Navy brought her within that category. On account
of this, all yacht owners were warned that should they wish to pass the
Dardanelles under the white or blue ensign, the latter being also the flag
of the Royal Naval Reserve, they must first obtain an Imperial Iradé,
otherwise they were recommended to display the red ensign. Austria-Hungary,
Spain, Denmark, Italy, Sweden, Norway, and France have each, in like
manner, given to the leading club of the country the privilege of flying
the naval flag. In America and Russia a special ensign has been accorded to
all yacht clubs, and all take equal rank. Some years ago the Royal Cork
Yacht Club wished to adopt a green ensign, but the Admiralty refused to
sanction a new colour.
The Blue Ensign is conferred on certain Yacht Clubs by special Admiralty
warrant. The Royal Eastern, Royal Barrow, Royal Clyde, Royal Highland,
Royal Northern, Royal Western of England, Royal Cinque Ports, Royal Albert,
Royal Dorset, etc., fly the Blue Ensign pure and simple; others have a
distinguishing badge on the fly, thus the Royal Irish has a golden harp and
crown, the Royal Ulster a white shield with the red hand, the Royal
Cornwall the Prince of Wales' Feathers, the Royal Harwich a golden rampant
lion, and so forth. The clubs flying the Red Ensign change it slightly from
that flown by the Merchant Service; thus the Royal St. George, Royal
Victoria, and Royal Portsmouth have a golden crown in the centre of the
Union canton, while the Royal Yorkshire has a white rose and gold crown on
the fly, and the Royal Dart a golden dart and crown. Each club has also its
distinguishing burgee, and ordinarily of the same colour as its ensign;
thus, though the Royal Clyde and the Royal Highland both fly the plain blue
ensign, the Royal Clyde burgee has on it the yellow shield and red lion
rampant, while the Royal Highland has the white cross of St. Andrew. Fig.
100 is the burgee of the Ranelagh Club, Fig. 101 of the Yare, Fig. 102 of
the Royal Thames, Fig. 103 of the Dublin Bay Club.
Besides these club ensigns and burgees, each yacht bears its owner's
individual device, that is supposed to distinguish it from all others,
though one finds, in looking through a series of such flags, that some of
the simpler devices are borne by more than one yacht. Every yacht club has
its special burgee, which is flown by each yacht in the club at her truck,
but when the vessel is racing the individual flag takes its place. Many of
these flags, though simple in character, are very effective and striking.
The lower flags on Plate XII. are good typical examples. Fig. 121 is the
yacht flag of His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales--the flag of the
well-known _Britannia_; and Figs. 122 and 123 are those respectively of the
equally-famed _Ailsa_ and _Valkyrie_. {74}
Merchant vessels are permitted to adopt any House or Company flag on
condition that it does not resemble any national flag. Its great use is
that it should be clearly distinctive; and many of the flags employed are
of strict heraldic propriety, and very attractive, while others are about
as unsatisfactory and bald as they well could be. It would clearly be a
painful and invidious thing to pick out any of these latter, so we can only
suggest that any of our readers who have an opportunity of visiting busy
ports, such as London, Southampton, Bristol, Liverpool, should collect
their own awful examples and paint them in the margin of this page.
We may point out, by the way, that anyone sketching flags would be greatly
assisted by knowing the symbols for the various colours, as it may well be
that anyone might have only a pencil in his pocket when desiring to make
such a memorandum. White is expressed by simply leaving the paper plain,
yellow by dotting the surface over, red by a series of upright lines, blue
by horizontal lines, green by sloping lines, and black by a series of
upright lines crossed by others at right angles to them. These are the
colours used in books on heraldry, and they are very easily remembered. On
some of our coins the colours of the arms in the shield are thus expressed,
and on heraldic book-plates and the like they may be also seen--wherever,
in fact, colour has to be expressed or notified without the actual use of
it. Our readers will find that if they will sketch out in black and white
some few of our examples they will soon gain a useful facility that may
stand them in good stead whenever for this or any other purpose they want
to make a colour memorandum, and have only a pencil or pen and ink to make
it with.
In the upper portion of Plate XII. we have several illustrations of Company
flags. Fig. 109 is the well-known ensign of Green's Blackwall Line, while
Fig. 110 is that of the Cunard. The Peninsular and Oriental flag (Fig. 111)
is divided by lines from corner to corner into four triangles, the upper
one white, the lower yellow, the hoist blue, and the fly red. This division
into triangles is a rather favourite one; we see it again in Fig. 112, the
Flag of the Australasian Steam Navigation Company. In the flag of the
Demerara and Berbice Steamship Company the upper and lower portions are
white, and the two side portions red; in the flag of the vessels belonging
to Galbraith, Pembroke and Co., the upper is red, the lower blue, and the
two sides white. In another company, that of Wesencraft of Newcastle, the
colours are the same as the P. and O. flag, though differently placed, the
blue being at the top, the red at the bottom, the yellow at the hoist, and
the white at the fly. Fig. 113 is the flag of the fleet of Devitt and
Moore, an Australian Line. Fig. 114 betokens the vessels of the {75}
Canadian Pacific Company, and Fig. 115 the ships of the Castle Line to
South Africa. Fig. 116 is the Company flag of the Union Steamship Company,
of Southampton, while Fig. 117 is the device of the Mediterranean and New
York Steamship Company. Our remaining illustrations are; Fig. 118, the flag
adopted by Messrs. Houlden Brothers; Fig. 119, that of the popular White
Star Line; and Fig. 120, that of the New Zealand Shipping Company. The
well-known Allan Line has as its house flag the three upright strips of
blue, white, and red that we see in the French tricolor, Fig. 191, plus a
plain red burgee that is always hoisted immediately above it. The Allan is
the largest private ship-owning company in the world; in the course of the
year there are some two hundred arrivals and departures of their vessels at
or from Glasgow, and some fifty thousand people are carried annually to or
from America. During the Crimean War many of the steamers of this line were
chartered by the French Government for the transport of their troops, and
it is in memory of this that the vessels of the Allan fleet adopt the
tricolor as their house flag.
That we have by no means exhausted this portion of our subject is patent
from the fact that in a book before us that is specially devoted to these
house flags seven hundred and eighty-two examples are given, wherein we
find not only stripes, crosses, and such-like simple arrangements, but
crescents, stars, anchors, lions, stags, thistles, castles, bells, keys,
crowns, tridents, and many other forms.
In earlier days merchant ships flew rather the flag of their port than of
their nation, so that a vessel was known to be of Plymouth, Marseilles,
Dantzic, or Bremen by the colours displayed. Thus the flag of Marseilles
was blue with a white cross upon it; Texel, a flag divided horizontally
into two equal strips, the upper being green and the lower black; Rotterdam
was indicated by a flag having six horizontal green stripes upon it, the
interspaces being white; Cherbourg, blue, white, blue, white, horizontally
arranged; Riga, a yellow cross on a blue ground.
The British Empire--the Greater Britain across the seas, some eighty times
larger in area than the home islands of its birth--must now engage our
attention. Its material greatness is amazing, far exceeding that of any
other empire the world has ever seen, and its moral greatness is equal to
its material. Wherever the flag of Britain flies, there is settled law,
property is protected, religion is free; it is no mere symbol of violence
or rapine, or even of conquest. It is what it is because it represents
everywhere peace, and civilization, and commerce. Protected by the _Pax
Britannica_ dwell four hundred millions out of every race under heaven, the
{76} Mother of Nations extending to Jew, Parsee, Arab, Chinese, Blackfoot,
Maori, the liberties that were won at Runnymead and in many another stern
fight for life and freedom. In every school-room in the United States hangs
the flag of their Union, the Stars and Stripes; and devotion to all that it
symbolises is an essential part of the teaching. We in turn might well in
our systems of education give a larger space to the history, laws, and
literature of our great Empire, taking a more comprehensive view than is
now ordinarily the case, studying the growth of the mighty States that have
sprung into existence through British energy, and attaching at least as
much importance to the lives of the men who have built up this goodly
heritage as to the culinary shortcomings of Alfred or the schemes of Perkin
Warbeck.
As regards the value of our Colonies to the Empire, the following extract
from a speech made by the Prince of Wales at the Royal Colonial Institute
may very aptly be quoted:--
"We regard the Colonies as integral parts of the Empire, and our warmest
sympathies are with our brethren beyond the seas, who are no less dear to
us than if they dwelt in Surrey or Kent. Mutual interests, as well as ties
of affection, unite us as one people, and so long as we hold together we
are unassailable from without. From a commercial point of view, the
Colonies and India are among the best customers for home manufacturers, it
being computed that no less than one-third of the total exports are
absorbed by them. They offer happy and prosperous homes to thousands who
are unable to gain a livelihood within the narrow limits of these islands,
owing to the pressure of over-population and consequent over-competition.
In transplanting themselves to our own Colonies, instead of to foreign
lands, they retain their privileges as citizens of this great Empire, and
live under the same flag as subjects of the same Sovereign. As Professor
Seeley remarks in his very interesting work, 'The Expansion of England,'
'Englishmen in all parts of the world remember that they are of one blood
and one religion; that they have one history, and one language and
literature.' We are, in fact, a vast English nation, and we should take
great care not to allow the emigrants who have gone forth from among us to
imagine that they have in the slightest degree ceased to belong to the same
community as ourselves."
Our statesmen and thinkers have never failed to recognise the brotherhood
of Greater Britain. Of this fact it would be easy enough to reproduce
illustrations by the score. We need, however, here but refer to the
sentiments of the Earl of Rosebery on the expansion of the Empire, where we
find him declaring-- {77}
"Since 1868 the Empire has been growing by leaps and bounds. That is,
perhaps, not a process which everybody witnesses with unmixed satisfaction.
It is not always viewed with unmixed satisfaction in circles outside these
islands. There are two schools who view with some apprehension the growth
of our Empire. The first is composed of those nations who, coming somewhat
late into the field, find that Great Britain has some of the best plots
already marked out. To those nations I will say that they must remember
that our Colonies were taken--to use a well-known expression--at prairie
value, and that we have made them what they are. We may claim that whatever
lands other nations may have touched and rejected, and we have cultivated
and improved, are fairly parts of our Empire, which we may claim to possess
by an indisputable title. But there is another ground on which the
extension of our Empire is greatly attacked, and the attack comes from a
quarter nearer home. It is said that our Empire is already large enough,
and does not need extension. That would be true enough if the world were
elastic, but, unfortunately, it is not elastic, and we are engaged at the
present moment, in the language of mining, in 'pegging out claims for the
future.' We have to consider not what we want now, but what we shall want
in the future. We have to consider what countries must be developed, either
by ourselves or some other nation, and we have to remember that it is part
of our responsibility and heritage to take care that the world, as far as
it can be moulded by us, shall receive an 'English-speaking' complexion,
and not that of another nation. We have to look forward beyond the chatter
of platforms, and the passions of party, to the future of the race of which
we are at present the trustees, and we should, in my opinion, grossly fail
in the task that has been laid upon us did we shrink from responsibilities,
and decline to take our share in a partition of the world which we have not
forced on, but which has been forced upon us."
Statistics of area of square miles, population, and so forth, can be
readily found by those who care to seek for them, and we need give them no
place here; but let us at least try and realise just by bare enumeration
something of what this Greater Britain is. In Europe it includes, besides
the home islands, Gibraltar, Malta, Cyprus. In Asia--the great Indian
Empire, Ceylon, Aden, Hong-Kong, North Borneo, the Straits Settlements,
Perim, Socotra, Labuan. In America--the Dominion of Canada, Newfoundland,
Trinidad, Guiana, Honduras, Jamaica, the Bahamas, Bermudas, Barbadoes,
Falkland Isles, the Leeward and Windward Isles. In Australasia--New South
Wales, Victoria, Western Australia, Tasmania, Queensland, New Zealand,
Fiji, New Guinea. In Africa--the Cape Colony, Basutoland, Bechuanaland,
Zululand, Natal, {78} Gold Coast, Lagos, Sierra Leone, Gambia, Mauritius,
Seychelles, Ascension, St. Helena. Our list is by no means a complete one.
Newfoundland was the earliest British colony, the settlement being made
about the year 1500. Many of our colonies have been thus created by
peaceful settlement, while others have fallen to us in victorious fights
with France, Holland, Spain, and other Powers, or have been ceded by
treaty.
The flags of our colonies are those of the Empire, with, in some cases,
special modifications. In all our colonies, for instance, the Royal
Standard, as we see it in England, is displayed on the fortresses on the
anniversaries of the birth and coronation of the Sovereign.
The Blue Ensign is the flag borne by any vessel maintained by any colony
under the clauses of the Colonial Defence Act, 28 Vic., Cap. 14. The
"Queen's Regulations" state that "Any vessel provided and used, under the
third section of the said Act, shall wear the Blue Ensign, with the seal or
badge of the Colony in the fly thereof, and a blue pendant. All vessels
belonging to, or permanently in the service of, the Colony, but not
commissioned as vessels of war under the Act referred to, shall wear a
similar blue ensign, but not the pendant." In Figs. 127, 128, 130, and 135
we have the Government Ensigns of four of our great Colonies--Cape Colony,
Queensland, Canada, and Victoria--while in Fig. 140 we have the blue
pendant.
This Colonial Defence Act of 1865 is so important in its bearings on the
possibilities of Naval defence that it seems well to quote from it some of
its provisions. Its object is to enable the several Colonial possessions of
Her Majesty to make better provision for Naval defence, and, to that end,
to provide and man vessels of war; and also to raise a volunteer force to
form part of the Royal Naval Reserve, to be available for the general
defence of the Colony in case of need. This Act declares that "in any
Colony it shall be lawful for the proper Legislative Authority, with the
Approval of Her Majesty in Council, from Time to Time to make Provision for
effecting at the Expense of the Colony all or any of the Purposes
following:
"For providing, maintaining, and using a Vessel or Vessels of War,
subject to such Conditions and for such Purposes as Her Majesty in
Council from Time to Time approves.
"For raising and maintaining Seamen and others entered on the Terms of
being bound to serve as ordered in any such Vessel. {79}
"For raising and maintaining a Body of Volunteers entered on the Terms
of being bound to general Service in the Royal Navy in Emergency, and,
if in any Case the proper Legislative Authority so directs, on the
further Terms of being bound to serve as ordered in any such Vessel as
aforesaid:
"For appointing Commissioned, Warrant, and other Officers to train and
command or serve as Officers with any such Men ashore or afloat, on
such Terms and subject to such Regulations as Her Majesty in Council
from Time to Time approves:
"For obtaining from the Admiralty the Services of Commissioned,
Warrant, and other Officers and of Men of the Royal Navy for the
last-mentioned Purposes:
"For enforcing good Order and Discipline among the Men and Officers
aforesaid while ashore or afloat within the Limits of the Colony:
"For making the Men and Officers aforesaid, while ashore or afloat
within the Limits of the Colony or elsewhere, subject to all Enactments
and Regulations for the Time being in force for the Discipline of the
Royal Navy.
"Volunteers raised as aforesaid in any Colony shall form Part of the Royal
Naval Reserve, in addition to the Volunteers who may be raised under the
Act of 1859, but, except as in this Act expressly provided, shall be
subject exclusively to the Provisions made as aforesaid by the proper
Legislative Authority of the Colony.
"It shall be lawful for Her Majesty in Council from Time to Time as
Occasion requires, and on such Conditions as seem fit, to authorize the
Admiralty to issue to any Officer of the Royal Navy volunteering for the
Purpose a Special Commission for Service in accordance with the Provisions
of this Act.
"It shall be lawful for Her Majesty in Council from Time to Time as
Occasion requires, and on such Conditions as seem fit, to authorize the
Admiralty to accept any Offer for the Time being made or to be made by the
Government of a Colony, to place at Her Majesty's Disposal any Vessel of
War provided by that Government and the Men and Officers from Time to Time
serving therein; and while any Vessel accepted by the Admiralty under such
Authority is at the Disposal of Her Majesty, such Vessel shall be deemed to
all Intents a Vessel of War of the Royal Navy, and {80} the Men and
Officers from Time to Time serving in such Vessels shall be deemed to all
Intents Men and Officers of the Royal Navy, and shall accordingly be
subject to all Enactments and Regulations for the Time being in force for
the Discipline of the Royal Navy.
"It shall be lawful for Her Majesty in Council from Time to Time as
Occasion requires, and on such Conditions as seem fit, to authorize the
Admiralty to accept any Offer for the Time being made or to be made by the
Government of a Colony, to place at Her Majesty's Disposal for general
Service in the Royal Navy the whole or any Part of the Body of Volunteers
with all or any of the Officers raised and appointed by that Government in
accordance with the Provisions of this Act; and when any such Offer is
accepted such of the Provisions of the Act of 1859 as relate to Men of the
Royal Naval Reserve raised in the United Kingdom when in actual Service
shall extend and apply to the Volunteers whose Services are so accepted."
As the Act winds up by saying that "nothing in this Act shall take away or
abridge any power vested in or exerciseable by the Legislature or
Government of any Colony," it is evident that the whole arrangement is a
purely voluntary one.
The vessels of the Mercantile Marine registered as belonging to any of the
Colonies, fly the red ensign without any distinguishing badge, so that a
Victorian or Canadian merchantman coming up the Thames or Mersey would
probably fly a flag in all respects similar (Fig. 97) to that of a merchant
vessel owned in the United Kingdom. There is, however, no objection to
colonial merchant vessels carrying distinctive flags with the badge of the
Colony thereon, in addition to the red ensign, provided that the Lords
Commissioners of the Admiralty give their warrant of authorization. The red
ensign differenced may be seen in Fig. 129, the merchant flag of
Canada,[55] and in Fig. 134 that of Victoria, the device on this latter
bearing the five stars, representing the constellation of the Southern
Cross--a simple, appropriate, and beautiful device. {81}
"Governors of Her Majesty's Dominions in foreign parts, and governors of
all ranks and denominations administering the governments of British
Colonies and Dependencies shall"--as set forth in "Queen's
Regulations"--"fly the Union Jack with the arms or badge of the Colony
emblazoned in the centre thereof." Figs. 139 and 141 are illustrations, the
first being the special flag of the Viceroy of India, and the second that
of the Governor of Western Australia. The Governor-General of Canada has in
the centre of his flag the arms of the Dominion, while the
Lieutenant-Governors of Quebec, Ontario, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick,
Manitoba, British Columbia, and Prince Edward's Island have in the centre
of their flags the arms of their province alone. These arms in each case
are placed on a shield within a white circle, and surrounded by a wreath.
The Admiralty requirements are that the Colonial badge on the governor's
flag should be placed within a "green garland," and this is understood to
be of laurel; but in 1870 Canada received the Imperial sanction to
substitute the leaves of the maple.[56]
Though the provinces that together make the Dominion of Canada are seven in
number, the Canadian shield only shows the arms of four--Ontario, Quebec,
Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick--an arrangement that can be scarcely
palatable to the other three.
The Queen's Warrant, published in the _Canadian Gazette_ of November 25th,
1869, is as follows:--
"VICTORIA, by the Grace of God, of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and
Ireland, Queen, Defender of the Faith, &c.
"To Our Right Trusty and well-beloved Councillor, Edward George Fitzalan
Howard (commonly called Lord Edward George Fitzalan Howard), Deputy to Our
Right Trusty and Right entirely beloved cousin, Henry Duke of Norfolk, Earl
Marshal and Our Hereditary Marshal of England--greeting:--
"WHEREAS, by virtue of, and under the authority of an Act of Parliament,
passed in the Twenty-ninth year of Our Reign, entitled 'An Act for the
Union of Canada, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick, and the Government
thereof," we were empowered to declare after a certain day therein
appointed, that the said Provinces of Canada, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick
should {82} form one Dominion under the name of Canada. And it was provided
that on and after the day so appointed, Canada should be divided into four
Provinces, named, Ontario, Quebec, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick; that the
part of the then Province of Canada, which formerly constituted the
Province of Upper Canada, should constitute the Province of Ontario; and
the part which formerly constituted the Province of Lower Canada, should
constitute the Province of Quebec; and that the Provinces of Nova Scotia
and New Brunswick should have the same limits as at the passing of the said
Act. And whereas we did by Our Royal Proclamation, bearing date the
Twenty-second day of May last, declare, ordain, and command that, on and
after the first day of July, 1867, the said Provinces should form and be
one Dominion under the name of Canada accordingly.
"And forasmuch as it is Our Royal will and pleasure that, for the greater
honour and distinction of the said Provinces, certain Armorial Ensigns
should be assigned to them,
"KNOW YE, therefore, that We, of our Princely Grace and special favour,
have granted and assigned, and by these presents do grant and assign the
Armorial Ensigns following, that is to say:--
"FOR THE PROVINCE OF ONTARIO:
"Vert, a sprig of three Leaves of Maple slipped, or, on a chief Argent the
Cross of St. George.
"FOR THE PROVINCE OF QUEBEC:
"Or, on a Fess Gules between two Fleurs de Lis in chief Azure, and a Sprig
of three Leaves of Maple slipped vert in base, a Lion passant guardant or.
"FOR THE PROVINCE OF NOVA SCOTIA:
"Or, on a Fess Wavy Azure between three Thistles proper, a Salmon Naiant
Argent.
"FOR THE PROVINCE OF NEW BRUNSWICK:
Or, on waves a Lymphad, or Ancient Galley, with oars in action, proper, on
a chief Gules a Lion passant guardant or, as the same are severally
depicted in the margin hereof, to be borne for the said respective
Provinces on Seals, Shields, Banners, Flags, or otherwise according to the
Laws of Arms.
"And We are further pleased to declare that the said United Provinces of
Canada, being one Dominion under the name of {83} Canada, shall, upon all
occasions that may be required, use a common Seal, to be called the 'Great
Seal of Canada,' which said seal shall be composed of the Arms of the said
Four Provinces quarterly, all which armorial bearings are set forth in this
Our Royal Warrant."
This latter point is a somewhat important one, as owing to the
semi-official endorsement given in many colonial publications, it appears
to be a popular misconception that as many different arms as possible are
to be crowded in. In one example before us five are represented, the
additional one being Manitoba. In a handbook on the history, production,
and natural resources of Canada, prepared by the Minister of Agriculture
for the Colonial Exhibition, held in London in 1886, the arms of the seven
provinces are given separately, grouped around a central shield that
includes them all. The whole arrangement is styled "Arms of the Dominion
and of the Provinces of Canada."
When the Queen's Warrant was issued in 1869, Ontario, Quebec, Nova Scotia,
and New Brunswick were the only members of the Confederation. Manitoba
entered it in 1870, British Columbia in 1871, and Prince Edward Island in
1873.
The Royal Canadian Yacht Club, the Royal Nova Scotia Yacht Squadron, and
the Royal Hamilton Yacht Club have the privilege of flying the blue ensign.
Canada, unlike Australia, supplies no contingent towards the Imperial Navy,
but she has spent on public works over forty million pounds sterling. By
her great trans-continental railway a valuable alternative route to the
East is furnished; she provides graving docks at Quebec, Halifax, and
Victoria; trains an annual contingent of forty thousand volunteers,
supports a military college at Kingston, of whose cadets between eighty and
ninety are now officers in the British Army; and in many other ways
contributes to the well-being of the Empire, that Greater Britain, which
has been not unaptly termed "a World-Venice, with the sea for streets."
The badges of the various Colonies of the Empire, as shown in the official
flag-book of the Admiralty, are very diverse in appearance; some pleasing
and others less charming, perhaps, than fantastic. It is needless to
particularise them all. Some, like those of Mauritius, Jamaica, and of Cape
Colony (Fig. 127) are heraldic in character, while others--as Barbadoes,
where Britannia rides the waves in a chariot drawn by sea-horses, or South
Australia, where Britannia lands on a rocky shore on which a black man is
seated--are symbolical. Queensland has the simple and pleasing device we
see in Fig. 128, the Maltese Cross, having a crown at its centre.
Newfoundland has a crown on a white disc and the {84} Latinised name _Terra
Nova_ beneath, and Fiji (Fig. 137) adopts a like simple device, the crown
and the word Fiji, while New Guinea does not get even so far as this, but
has the crown, and beneath it the letters N. G. The gnu appears as the
device of Natal; the black swan (Fig. 141) as the emblem of West Australia.
An elephant and palm-tree on a yellow ground stand for West Africa, and an
elephant and temple for Ceylon. British North Borneo (Fig. 132), on a
yellow disc has a red lion, and Tasmania (Fig. 133), on a white ground has
the same, though it will be noted that the action of the two royal beasts
is not quite the same. The Straits Settlements have the curious device seen
in Fig. 131. New Zealand (Fig. 136) has a cross of stars on a blue field.
Victoria we have already seen in Figs. 134 and 135, while New South Wales
has upon the white field the Cross of St. George, having in the centre one
of the lions of England, and on each arm a star--an arrangement shown in
Fig. 138. British East Africa has the crown, and beneath it the golden sun
shooting forth its rays, one of the simplest, most appropriate, and most
pleasing of all the Colonial devices; when placed in the centre of the
Governor's flag it is upon a white disc, and the sun has eight principal
rays. When for use on the red or blue ensigns, the sun has twelve principal
rays, and both golden sun and crown are placed directly upon the field of
the flag. St. Helena, Trinidad, Bermuda, British Guiana, Leeward Isles,
Labuan, Bahamas, and Hong Kong all have devices in which ships are a
leading feature--in the Bermuda device associated with the great floating
dock, in the Hong Kong with junks, and in the other cases variously
differentiated from each other, so that all are quite distinct in
character. In the device of the Leeward Isles, designed by Sir Benjamin
Pine, a large pine-apple is growing in the foreground, and three smaller
ones away to the right. It is jocularly assumed that the centre one was Sir
Benjamin himself, and the three subordinate ones his family.
With Great Britain the command of the ocean is all-important. By our
sea-power our great Empire has been built up, and by it alone can it
endure. "A power to which Rome in the height of her glory is not to be
compared--a power which has dotted over the surface of the whole globe her
possessions and military posts, whose morning drum-beat, following the sun,
and keeping company with the hours, circles the earth with one continuous
and unbroken strain of the martial airs of England." So spoke Daniel
Webster in 1834, and our ever-growing responsibilities have greatly
increased since the more than sixty years when those words were uttered.
Let us in conclusion turn to the "True Greatness of Kingdoms and Estates,"
written by Bacon, a great and patriotic Englishman, where we may read the
warning words:-- {85}
"We see the great effects of battles by sea; the Battle of Actium decided
the empire of the world; the Battle of Lepanto arrested the greatness of
the Turk.
"There be many examples where sea-fights have been final to the war; but
this is when princes or States have set up their rest upon the battles; but
this much is certain, that he who commands the sea is at great liberty, and
may take as much and as little of the war as he will, whereas those that be
strongest by land are many times, nevertheless, in great straits.
"Surely at this day, with us of Europe, the vantage of strength at sea
(which is one of the dowries of this kingdom of Great Britain) is great;
both because most of the kingdoms of Europe are not merely inland, but girt
with the sea most part of their compass, and because the wealth of both
Indies seems, in great part, but an accessory to the command of the seas."
We are the sons of the men who won us this goodly heritage, and it behoves
us in turn to hand it on to our descendants in undiminished dignity, a
world-wide domain beneath the glorious Union Flag that binds all in one
great brotherhood.
* * * * *
{86}