The Flags of the World Part 5

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 pa.s.sage:--"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 pa.s.sage 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 t.i.tle 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 ill.u.s.tration 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 ta.s.sels 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--a.s.saye--should be ent.i.tled 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 a.s.saye 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 ta.s.sels and cords are of crimson silk and gold, and each flag bears the Royal or other t.i.tle 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 pa.s.sed, as the tattered colours--storm tossed, torn by shot and sh.e.l.l--are borne in honour to their last resting place, where, strife for ever over, they rest in peace in the Sanctuary of G.o.d, a memorial to all men, until their last shreds fall to decay, of duty n.o.bly 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 G.o.d 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 a.s.sist 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 p.r.o.nounced 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 mult.i.tude 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 n.o.ble 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 G.o.d's ministers ere they were committed to those who were to carry them, as a testimony that, as a nation, we believe in G.o.d, 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 G.o.d'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 a.s.sociations 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 a.s.semblage 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 G.o.d 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 succ.u.mb to sloth and luxury, first to undervalue, and finally to give up, national power and privileges which are an heritage from G.o.d, 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 G.o.d, 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 a.s.sisted 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 c.u.mberland 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 a.s.sembled, 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 b.a.l.l.s 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 gla.s.s 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 a.s.sociation 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 pa.s.s 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 pa.s.s 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 Irade, 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 a.s.sisted 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 ill.u.s.trations 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 ill.u.s.trations 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, Ma.r.s.eilles, Dantzic, or Bremen by the colours displayed. Thus the flag of Ma.r.s.eilles 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 inters.p.a.ces 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, Pa.r.s.ee, 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 s.p.a.ce 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 Inst.i.tute 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 una.s.sailable 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-compet.i.tion.

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 ill.u.s.trations 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 t.i.tle. 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 pa.s.sions 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 part.i.tion 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, Bechua.n.a.land, Zululand, Natal, {78} Gold Coast, Lagos, Sierra Leone, Gambia, Mauritius, Seych.e.l.les, 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.