The Flags of the World Part 7

The Flag of Columbus--Early Settlements in North America--the Birth of the United States--Early Revolutionary and State Flags--the Pine-tree Flag--the Rattle-snake Flag--the Stars and Stripes--Early Variations of it--the Arms of Washington--Entry of New States into the Union--the Eagle--the Flag of the President--Secession of the Southern States--State Flags again--the Stars and Bars--the Southern Cross--the Birth of the German Empire--the Influence of War Songs--Flags of the Empire--Flags of the smaller German States--the Austro-Hungary Monarchy--The Flags of Russia--The Crosses of St. Andrew and St. George again--the Flags of France--St. Martin--The Oriflamme--the Fleurs-de-lys--Their Origin--the White Cross--the White Flag of the Bourbons--the Tricolor--the Red Flag--the Flags of Spain--of Portugal--the Consummation of Italian Unity--the Arms of Savoy--the Flags of Italy--of the Temporal Power of the Papacy--the Flag of Denmark--its Celestial Origin--the Flags of Norway and Sweden--of Switzerland--Cantonal Colours--the Geneva Convention--the Flags of Holland--of Belgium--of Greece--the Crescent of Turkey--the Tughra--the Flags of Roumania, Servia, and Bulgaria--Flags of Mexico and of the States of Southern and Central America--of j.a.pan--the Rising Sun--the Chrysanthemum--the Flags of China, Siam, and Corea--of Sarawak--of the Orange Free State, Liberia, Congo State, and the Transvaal Republic.

The well-known Ensign (Fig. 146) of the United States of America is the outcome of many changes; the last of a long series of National, State, and local devices.

The first flag planted on American ground was borne thither by Christopher Columbus, in the year 1497, and bore on its folds the arms of Leon and Castile, a flag divided into four and having upon it, each twice repeated, the lion of Leon and the Castle of Castile: the first red on white, the second white on red. These arms form a portion of the present Spanish Standard, and may be seen in the upper staff corner in Fig. 194. In this same year--1497--Newfoundland was discovered, but the first English settlement on the mainland was not made until Sir Walter Raleigh took possession of a tract of country in 1584, naming it Virginia, after Elizabeth, the Virgin-Queen he served, and hoisting the Standard of Her Majesty, bearing in its rich blazonry (Fig. 22) the ruddy lions of England quartered with the golden lilies of France. The Dutch established themselves, in the year 1614, in what is now the State of New York; the French, having already founded a colony in Canada in 1534, took possession of Louisiana, so called after their King Louis, in 1718, while Florida, at first French, became Spanish, and in 1763 was ceded to England. {87}

Three ships, bearing the earliest Pilgrim Fathers from England to America, had already sailed from England in the year 1606, and these were followed by the historic _Mayflower_ and the _Plymouth Rock_, in 1620. While these exiles for conscience sake established for themselves a new England in the west, a colony of Scotchmen in the year 1622 took possession of a tract of land which they named Nova Scotia. Maryland, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New Jersey, Carolina, Pennsylvania, and other colonies were successively formed by parties of Englishmen--the final outcome of peaceful settlement, or the arbitrament of the sword, being that the greater part of the eastern seaboard, and the country beyond it, came under the sway of the English Crown, until injudicious taxation and ill-advised repression led at length to open discontent and disloyalty, and finally to revolution and the birth of the great Republic of the West.

So long as the Colonists owed allegiance to the British crown, one would naturally have taken for granted that they would have been found beneath the national flag, but this was not altogether the case. In the early days of New England the Puritans strongly objected to the red cross on the flag: not from any disloyalty to the old country, but from a conscientious objection to the use of a symbol which they deemed idolatrous. By the year 1700, though the Cross of St. George was still the leading device, the different colonies began to employ special devices to distinguish their vessels from those of England and of each other.[57] This, though it indicated a certain jealousy and independence amongst the colonies themselves, was no proof of any desire for separation from the old country, and even when, later on, the dispute between King and Colonists became acute, we find them parting from the old flag with great reluctance. Fig.

142 is a very good ill.u.s.tration of this; its date is 1775.

In the early stages of the Revolution each section adopted a flag of its own, and it was only later on, when the desirability of union and uniformity became evident, that the necessity for one common flag was felt.

Thus, the people of Ma.s.sachusetts ranged themselves beneath banners bearing pine trees; the men of South Carolina went in for rattle-snakes; the New Yorkers adopted a white flag with a black beaver thereon; the Rhode Islanders had a white flag with a blue anchor upon it; and, in like manner, each contingent adopted its special device.

In Fig. 144, one of the flags of the insurgents at Bunker's Hill, {88} June 17th, 1775, we see that the Cross of St. George is still preserved, and it might well fly in company with Fig. 67, a flag of the London Trained Bands, except that in the corner we see the pine tree. In Fig. 145 the English emblem has dropped out and the pine tree has become much more conspicuous, and in Figs. 147 and 148 all suggestion of St. George or of the red or blue Ensigns has disappeared. This arboreal device was not by any means a new one to the men of Ma.s.sachusetts. We find a mint established at Boston as early as 1651, busily engaged in coining the silver captured from the Spaniards by the Buccaneers. On one side was the date and value of the coin, and, on the reverse, a tree in the centre and "In Ma.s.sachusetts"

around it. It must be remembered that at the time there was no king to resent this encroachment on the royal prerogative, and no notice was taken of it by the Parliament or by Cromwell. There was a tacit allowance of it afterwards, even by Charles II., for more than twenty years. It will be remembered that on his enquiry into the matter he was told by some courtier that the device was intended for the Royal Oak, and the question was allowed to drop.

South Carolina adopted the rattle-snake flag at the suggestion of one Gadsden, a delegate to the General Congress of the South Carolina Convention in 1776. On a yellow ground was placed a rattlesnake, having thirteen rattles; the reptile was coiled ready to strike, and beneath was the warning motto, "Don't tread on me." The number thirteen had reference to the thirteen revolted States, as it was originally proposed that this flag should be the navy flag for all the States. As an accessory to a portrait of Commodore Hopkins, "Commander-in-chief of the American fleet,"

we see a flag of thirteen alternate red and white stripes. It has no canton, but undulating diagonally across the stripes is a rattlesnake. The idea was not altogether a new one, as we find the _Pennsylvania Gazette_, in commenting twenty-five years previously on the iniquity of the British Government in sending its convicts to America, suggesting as a set off that "a cargo of rattlesnakes should be distributed in St. James's Park, Spring Gardens, and other places of pleasure." At the commencement of any great struggle by a revolting people there is often a great variety of device, and it is only after a while that such a multiplicity is found to be a danger. Hence we find that prior to the yellow rattlesnake flag, South Carolina had, with equal enthusiasm, adopted the blue flag with the crescent moon that we have figured in No. 158.[58] {89}

In the year 1775 a committee was appointed to consider the question of a single flag for the thirteen States. This ensign, though it went far towards moulding these different sections into the United States, was a curious ill.u.s.tration of that reluctance that we have already referred to, to sever themselves finally from the Old Country, as the Committee recommended the retention of the Union in the upper corner next the staff, but subst.i.tuted for the broad red field of the rest of the flag thirteen horizontally disposed stripes, alternately red and white, the emblems of the union into one of the thirteen colonies in their struggle against oppression. We have this represented in Fig. 57. It was also the flag of the East India Company.

On the final declaration of Independence, when the severance from the Old Country was irrevocable, and the colonists became a nation, the question of a national flag was one of the points awaiting solution; but it was not till about a year afterwards that a decision was come to. The vessels commissioned by Washington flew the flag we have figured in No. 147; this was approved in April, 1776, and remained in use some little time, as did also the one represented in Fig. 149. Sometimes we find the cross and pine-tree removed and the whole flag nothing but the red and white stripes.

This flag composed of stripes alone was not peculiar to the American navy, as a flag of similar design was for a long time a well-known signal in the British fleet, being that used for the red division to form up into line of battle.

Anyone looking over a collection of the common pottery made from about a hundred and fifty years ago up to comparatively recent times will find that stirring contemporary events are very freely introduced--sea-fights, portraits of leading statesmen, generals, and so forth. These are often caricatures, as, for example, the hundreds that may be seen in our various museums and private collections derisive of "Boney," while others are as historically correct as the potter's knowledge and skill could compa.s.s.

Anyone visiting the Corporation Museum at Brighton will find a jug bearing the head of Zebulon M. Pike, an American general; trophies of flags are grouped around this, but the only flag with any device upon it is a plain striped one. Another that bears the head of Commodore Decatur, U.S.N., has below it a cannon, on the left a trophy of flags and weapons, and on the right a ship; and a very similar jug may be seen in honour of Commodore Parry. In each of these cases the flags in the trophies and on the ships are simply striped.

On August 14th, 1777, Congress resolved "that the flag of the United States be thirteen stripes, alternately red and white, and that the Union be thirteen stars, white in a blue field, representing {90} a new constellation."[59] This was the birth of the national flag, "the stars and stripes," and it would appear at first sight to be a final settlement of the device, though in practice the result did not work out at all uniformly, the number of stripes being unequal. If we commence at the top with a white one, we shall have seven white and six red, whereas if we begin with a red stripe we shall get seven red and six white. Each of these renderings was for some years in use, until it was authoritatively laid down that the latter was the arrangement to be adopted. It seems a minor point, but any of our readers who will re-draw Fig. 146 and transpose the colours of the stripes, so that the upper and lower edges of the flag are white instead of red, will be surprised to note how so apparently trivial a change will affect the appearance of the flag.[60] In like manner the stars were sometimes made with six points, and at others with five. Even so late as 1779, we find such a striking variation as a flag bearing stars with eight points, and its stripes alternately red, blue, and white. The coins issued during the presidency of Washington had five-pointed stars on them, but later on they had six points. n.o.body seems now to know why this change was made.

As nothing was said in this resolution of Congress as to the arrangement of the stars on the blue field, a further opening for variety of treatment was found. In some of the early flags they were arranged to represent the letters U.S., in others they were all placed in a circle, in others again they were dispersed irregularly, so as the better to suggest a constellation; and it was finally ordered that they should be placed in parallel horizontal rows, as we now see them.

Though the stars did not appear in the American flag until 1777, we find in a poem in the _Ma.s.sachusetts Spy_ of March 10th, 1774, on the outbreak of the rebellion, the lines--

"The American ensign now sparkles a star Which shall shortly flame wide through the skies."

{91}

This poetic and prophetic flight is the earliest suggestion of the stars in the national flag of the United States.

It has been held that the American Eagle and the stars and stripes of the national flag were suggested by the crest and arms of the Washington family. This statement has been often made; hence we find an American patriot writing:--"It is not a little curious that the poor, worn-out rag of feudalism, as many would count it, should have expanded into the bright and ample banner that now waves on every sea." But that it should be so seems by no means an established fact. No reference is made to it in Washington's correspondence, or in that of any of his contemporaries. The arms of the Washington family are a white shield having two horizontal red bars, and above these a row of three red stars; and this certainly bears some little resemblance to the American flag, but how much is mere coincidence, and how much is adaptation it is impossible to say. These arms may be seen on a bra.s.s in Solgrave Church, Huntingdonshire, on the tomb of Laurence Washington, the last lineal ancestor who was buried in England. He was twice Mayor of Northampton, in 1533 and in 1546, and the first President of the United States was his great-great-grandson. He was a man of considerable influence, and on the dissolution of the monasteries Henry gave him the Priory of St. Andrews, Northampton. In the troublous times that succeeded, his son John went to America, and lived for some twenty years on the banks of the Potomac.

Another theory that has been advanced is that the blue quarter was taken from the blue banner of the Scotch Covenanters, and was therefore significant of the Solemn League and Covenant of the United Colonies against oppression, while the stripes were a blending of the red colours used in the army with the white flags used in the navy. We give the theory for what it is worth, which we venture to say is not very much; but as it was advanced by an American writer, we give it place.

Should our readers care to consider yet another theory, they may learn that the genesis of the star-spangled banner was very much less prosaic. Prose has it that a Committee of Council, accompanied by General Washington, called on Mrs. Ross, an upholstress of Arch Street, Philadelphia, and engaged her to make a flag from a rough sketch that they brought with them, that she in turn suggested one or two practical modifications, and that at her wish Washington re-drew it there and then, that she at once set to work on it, and in a few hours the first star-spangled flag was floating in the breeze; but the poet ignores the services of Mrs. Ross altogether, and declares that {92}

"When Freedom from her mountain height Unfurled her standard to the air, She tore the azure robe of Night And set the stars of glory there.

She mingled with its gorgeous dyes The milky baldric of the skies, And striped its pure celestial white With streakings of the morning light: Then from his mansion in the sun She called her eagle-bearer down And gave into his mighty hand The symbol of her chosen land."

This view was expressed by another great American in the words:--"As at the early dawn the stars shine forth even while it grows light, and then, as the sun advances, that light breaks out into banks and streaming lines of colour, the glowing red and intense light striving together and ribbing the horizon with bars effulgent, so on the American flag stars and beams of light shine out together. Where this flag comes, and men behold it, they see in its sacred emblazoning no ramping lions, and no fierce eagle, no embattled castles, or insignia of imperial authority: they see the symbols of light: it is the banner of dawn; it means Liberty!"

We have clearly now got a long way from the establishment in Arch Street.

This flag, which, after such glowing pa.s.sages as the foregoing, we should almost expect to find too sacred a thing for change or criticism, has undergone some few modifications in its details, though the original broad idea has remained untouched.

As the first conception was that each of the original thirteen States was represented in the national flag by a star and a stripe, other States, as they came into the Union, naturally expected the same consideration: hence on the admission of Vermont in 1791, and Kentucky in 1792, an Act was pa.s.sed which increased the number of stars and stripes from thirteen to fifteen. Later on came Tennessee, Ohio, Louisiana, and so forth, and the flag was presently made to consist of twenty stars and stripes, but it was found to be so objectionable to be thus continually altering it that it was settled in the year 1818 to go back to the original thirteen stripes, but to add a star for each new State. Hence the stripes show always the original number of the States at the birth of the nation, while the stars show the present number in the Union.

It is interesting to trace the growth of the country, Illinois being enrolled in the Union in 1818, Alabama in 1819, Maine in 1820, Missouri in 1821, Arkansas in 1836, Michigan in 1837, and so on; but suffice it now to say that by 1891 the original thirteen had {93} grown to forty-four, and it was announced that on and after the 4th of July of that year the national flag should bear this latter number of stars. As there are still several territories awaiting promotion to the rank of States, the constellation is even yet incomplete.

"A song for our banner! The watchword recall Which gave the Republic her station; United we stand, divided we fall, It made, and preserves us, a nation!

The union of lakes, the union of lands, The union of States none can sever; The union of hearts, the union of hands, And the flag of our Union for ever."

The most striking modification of the flag is seen in the Revenue Service.

We have still the silver stars on the azure field and the stripes of alternate red and white, but in this special case the stripes, instead of being disposed horizontally, are placed vertically, a slight enough difference apparently, but one which makes a striking alteration in the appearance of the flag.

The pendant of the United States Navy is shown in Fig. 151; the stars in it, it will be seen, are reduced to the original thirteen, while the narrowness of the flag permits but two of the stripes.

The American Jack is simply the blue and white portion of the National flag, Fig. 146, made into a separate flag.

The Commodore's broad pendant is a swallow-tailed blue flag, with one white star in the centre. The Admiral's flag, hoisted at the main, is shown in Fig. 143; the Vice-Admiral's flag, hoisted at the fore, has three white stars on the blue field; and the Rear-Admiral's flag, hoisted at mizen, has two arranged vertically over each other.

While in some nationalities the flag of the war navy differs from that of the mercantile marine--as in the case of Great Britain, Germany, and Spain--in others the same flag is used. This is so in the United States, France, etc.

The Chief of the State, whether he be called Emperor, King, President, or Sultan, has his own flag--his personal Standard--and this special and personal flag, in the case of the President of the United States, has on its blue field an eagle, bearing on its breast a shield with the stars and stripes, and beneath it the national motto, "_E pluribus unum_." As it has been suggested that the employment of the eagle as a symbol of the State was derived from the crest of Washington, it may not be inopportune to state that the crest in question was not an eagle at all, but a raven. The idea of the eagle, together with the word "Senate," and many such similar {94} things, no doubt arose from their use in ancient Rome, and afforded an ill.u.s.tration the more of the pseudo-cla.s.sicalism that was raging in the eighteenth century in France and elsewhere.

The eagle appears on many of the early flags of America. Fig. 150 is a curious example of its use. In an old engraving we see a figure of Liberty defended by Washington, and above them this flag. In another old print before us we see Washington leaning on a cannon, and behind him a flag bearing the stars and stripes, plus an eagle, that with outstretched wings fills up much of the field, having in his beak a label with the "_E pluribus unum_" upon it, with one foot grasping the thunderbolts of War, and the other the olive-branch of Peace.

Both these eagle-bearing flags, it will be seen, are a.s.sociated with the President; but in many of these early examples there seems no necessary connection. Thus in one instance we see a busy ship-building scene, and while the ship in the foreground has at stern the stars and stripes, at the bowsprit it bears a Jack that is identical with the blue and white portion of Fig. 150.

In a Presidential Standard proposed in 1818 the flag is quartered. In the first quarter are twenty white stars on a blue field; in the second quarter is the eagle and thunderbolt; in the third a sitting figure emblematic of Liberty; in the fourth, seven red horizontal stripes alternating with six white ones. We found the flag figured in an old American book, but are unable to say whether such a flag was ever actually made, proposition and adoption not being altogether the same thing.

History repeated itself on the secession from the Union, in the year 1860, of North and South Carolina, Florida, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Virginia, Texas, Arkansas, and Tennessee. There was the same desire at first for individuality in the different flags adopted by the seceding States, the same unwillingness to break wholly away from the old flag, that we have seen as features in the first revolt.

Louisiana adopted the flag shown in Fig. 156; this was emblematic of the origin and history of the State, Louisiana having been settled by Louis Quatorze in 1718, ceded to Spain at the peace of 1763, restored to France in 1802, sold by France to America in 1803, and admitted as a State of the Union in 1812. The Spanish Flag, Fig. 192, is red and yellow, hence the golden star on the ruddy field, while the stripes of red, white and blue are the colours found in the flags of France and America.

On the election of President Lincoln in November, 1860, South Carolina, by vote of Convention, proclaimed her resumption of independence as a Sovereign State, and on the 17th of the month the new State Flag, having a green Palmetto palm in the centre of a {95} field of white, was hoisted in Charleston amidst the ringing of bells, a salute of one hundred guns, and every possible sign of public rejoicing. In January, 1861, the flag shown in Fig. 155 was subst.i.tuted, the old crescent moon of the first rebellion, 1775, reappearing, but in the _Charleston Mercury_, of January 29th, 1861, we read that "the Legislature last night again altered the design of the State Flag. It now consists of a blue field with a white Palmetto palm tree in the middle. The white crescent in the upper flagstaff corner remains as before, but the horns pointing upwards. This may be regarded as final."

This flag is shown in Fig. 159. Fig. 160 is the flag of Texas--"the lone star" State.

"Hurrah for the Lone Star!

Up, up to the mast With the honoured old bunting, And nail it there fast.

The ship is in danger, And Texans will fight 'Neath the flag of the Lone Star For G.o.d and their right."

When it became necessary, as it almost immediately did, to adopt one flag as the common Ensign of all the Confederate States, a special committee was appointed to consider the matter, and to study the numerous designs submitted to them. On presenting their report the Chairman said--"A flag should be simple, readily made, and capable of being made up in bunting; it should be different from the flag of any other country, place, or people: it should be significant: it should be readily distinguishable at a distance: the colours should be well contrasted and durable: and lastly, and not the least important point, it should be effective and handsome. The Committee humbly think that the flag which they submit combines these requirements. It is very easy to make; it is entirely different from any other national flag. The three colours of which it is composed--red, white, and blue--are the true Republican Colours; they are emblematic of the three great virtues--valour, purity, and truth. Naval men a.s.sure us that it can be recognised at a great distance. The colours contrast admirably, and are lasting. In effect and appearance it must speak for itself." The flag, thus highly and justly commended, was first hoisted on March 4th, 1861, at Montgomery. It is represented in Fig. 152, and was quickly known as the "Stars and Bars."[61] Even the _New York Herald_ admitted that "the design of this flag is striking, and it has {96} the merit of originality as well as of durability." The circle of white stars was intended to correspond in number with the States in the Confederacy, but no great attention seems to have been paid to this. The flag may be seen engraved on the paper money of the different Southern States, and on other Government papers. In one example before us the stars are seven in number, and in another nine are shown, the number of seceding States being eleven.

While the "Stars and Bars," Fig. 152, was quite a different flag from Fig.

146, the "Stars and Stripes," it was found that, nevertheless, in the stress of battle confusion arose; so the battle flag, Fig. 153, known as the "Southern Cross," became largely adopted, though its use was never actually legalised. Here, again, we find that though eleven should be the proper number of the stars, they are in our ill.u.s.tration thirteen, while in one example we have found seventeen. It would be found in practice very difficult to make a pleasing arrangement of eleven stars; given a central one, and two on either side of it in the arms of the cross, and we get nine as a result, with three on either side it will total to thirteen, and with four it must take seventeen. In a few instances it may be seen without the red portions--a white flag with the blue cross and white stars. One great objection to the Southern Cross was that it was not adapted for sea service, since being alike in whatever way it was looked at, it could not be reversed in case of distress. To obviate this difficulty, at a Congress in Richmond in 1863 the form seen in Fig. 154 was adopted--a plain white flag having the Southern Cross as its Union; but this, in turn, was objected to as being too much like a flag of truce, so to meet this, in the following year, it was ordered that the s.p.a.ce between the Union and the outer edge of the flag should be divided vertically in half, and that the outer half should be red: an alteration that may have been necessary, but which greatly spoiled the appearance of what was, before this, a handsome and striking flag. As the struggle came to an end in the following year, the "Stars and Bars" and the "Southern Cross" perished in the general downfall of the Southern cause--the victories of Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Shenandoah Valley, Chattanooga, and many another hard-fought field, and the brilliant strategy of Lee, Beauregard, Longstreet, Jackson, Early, Hood, and many another gallant commander, being all in vain against the unlimited resources of the North. Over six hundred and fifty thousand human lives, over seven hundred millions of pounds sterling, were spent in what an American writer delicately calls "the late unpleasantness."

The Americans, jealous of the honour of their flag, have sometimes, to our insular notions, a rather odd way of showing it. Some {97} of our readers will remember how an American, some time ago, undertook to carry the flag of his country through England. Whatever visions he or his compatriots may have had of his defending it gallantly against hostile attack were soon proved to be baseless. Englishmen, _cela va sans dire_, have no hostility to the Americans, and the populace--urban, suburban, and rural--everywhere entered into the humour of the thing, and cheered the gallant sergeant and his bunting wherever he appeared. All the risk and terror of the exploit melted away in general acclamation and hearty welcome. An Englishman told us that in descending a mountain in Norway he met an American carrying something rolled up; he unfolded it, and displayed the Stars and Stripes, and said that he had brought it to plant on the summit of the mountain. Why he should do so is by no means apparent: but still, as it pleased him and hurt no one else, it would be churlish, indeed, to demur to so innocent a pastime. Our friend courteously raised his hat to the symbol of the great daughter nation over the ocean, whereupon the American heartily reciprocated, saying, "Thanks, stranger; and here's to the Union Jack."[62]

When the French declared war against Prussia, on July 16th, 1870, they were entirely unprepared for the enthusiasm and unity with which the various German States rallied together against the common opponent. It was thought that the Southern and Catholic States would, at least, be neutral, if they did not side with France against a Power that, during previous conflict with Austria, had laid heavy hand on those that had then taken sides against her. But this, after all, had been but a quarrel amongst themselves; and the attempt of France to violate German soil was at once the signal for Germans to stand shoulder to shoulder in one brotherhood against the common foe. The separate interests and grievances of Bavarians, Saxons, Hessians, Badeners, Brunswickers, Wurtemburgers, Hanoverians, were at once put aside, and united Germany, in solid phalanx, rose in irresistible might. In the great historic Palace of Versailles, in the hall dedicated "to all the glories of France," the Confederate Princes of Germany, headed by the King of Bavaria, {98} conferred on the King of Prussia the t.i.tle of Emperor of Germany, bestowing on him the duty of representing all the German States in international questions, and appointing him and his successors the Commander-in-chief of the German forces. Thus, on January 17th, 1871, amid the acclamation of the allied Sovereigns and the deep ba.s.s of the cannon in the trenches surrounding the beleagured capital of the common enemy, the principle of German unity received its seal and consummation.