FLAGS BORNE BY TRADES.
Besides national and personal flags, those of Trades and Companies were frequently carried in armies, and of these many examples occur in the illuminated copies of Froissart. On one occasion we find on a banner azure a chevron between a hammer, trowel, and plumb. On another there is an axe and two pairs of compasses. And on the painting of the battle between Philip d'Artevel and the Flemings, and the King of France, banners occur charged with boots and shoes, drinking vessels, &c. In Scotland an interesting example is preserved of a Trades flag which was borne at Flodden, and which was presented in 1482 by James III. to the Trades of Edinburgh (Fig. 24). It is familiarly known as the Blue Blanket, and is in the possession of the Trades' Maidens' Hospital of Edinburgh. In an accompanying memorandum it is described thus: "The Blue Blanket or standard of the Incorporated Trades of Edinburgh. Renewed by Margaret, Queen of James III., King of Scots: Borne by the craftsmen at the battle of Flodden in 1513, and displayed on subsequent occasions when the liberties of the city or the life of the sovereign were in danger."
The field of the flag has been blue, but it is now much faded. In the upper corner is the white saltire of Scotland, with the crown above and the thistle in base. On a scroll in the upper part of the flag are the words, "Fear God and Honor the king with a long life and a prosperous reigne;" and, in a scroll below, the words, "And we that is Tradds shall ever pray to be faithfull for the defence of his sacred Majestes royal persone till death." The flag is about ten feet in length.
Fig. 24.—The "Blue Blanket," A.D. 1482.
FLAGS OF THE COVENANTERS.
Of the flags borne in Scotland by the Covenanters, in their noble struggle for liberty, several are extant, and connected as they are with so important a part of Scottish national history, they are replete with interest. One of these, which is preserved by the Antiquarian Society of Edinburgh, bears the national cross, the white saltire of Scotland, with five roses in the centre point, and the inscription "For religion, Covenants, king, and kingdomes" (Fig. 25).
Fig. 25.—Flag of the Covenanters, A.D. 1679.
For the description of another of these flags of the Covenanters, to which a more than usual interest attaches, we are indebted to the late distinguished artist and archæologist Mr. James Drummond, R.S.A.[34] Mr. Drummond says it was known as "the Bluidy Banner," and it is important as confirming a statement which had been disputed, namely, that Hamilton of Preston, who commanded the Covenanters at the battle of Bothwell Brig, gave out "No quarter" as the word of the day. Hamilton himself, in his "Vindication," not only acknowledges this, but boasts of it—"blessing God for it," he says, and "desiring to bless his holy name that since he helped me to set my face to his work, I never had nor would take a favour from mine enemies, either on the right or left hand, and desire to give as few." But Wodrow denies the statement—characterizing it as an unjust imputation on the Covenanters, and in this he is followed by Dr. M'Crie. The discovery of the flag, however, puts the matter beyond doubt. Mr. Drummond found it in the possession of an old gentleman and his sister in East Lothian, and it was only after much persuasion that he was allowed to see it and take a drawing of it. On his asking the old lady why she objected to show it to strangers, she said: "It's the Bluidy Banner, ye ken, and what would the Roman Catholics say if they kenned that our forbears had fought under such a bluidy banner." By Roman Catholics Mr. Drummond understood her to include Episcopalians and all others of a different religious persuasion from her own. The flag is of blue silk. The first line of the inscription, which is composed of gilt letters, is in the Hebrew language—"Jehovah Nissi"—the Lord is my banner. The next line is painted in white—"For Christ and his truths;" and then come the words, in a reddish or blood colour, "No quarters for ye active enimies of ye Covenant." The detailed account given by the custodiers to Mr. Drummond, left no doubt as to the authenticity of this flag. (See Plate II.)
[ [34] Paper read before the Society of Antiquarians of Scotland, 14th June, 1859.
PLATE II. "THE BLUIDIE BANNER" CARRIED AT BOTHWELL BRIG. A.D. 1679.
NATIONAL FLAGS.
But I must proceed to speak of our national flags. For a long time the distinguishing flag of England has been a red cross on a white field. The flag of Scotland is a white saltire (or St. Andrew's cross) on a blue field, and what has come to be called the flag of Ireland is a red saltire on a white field. But Ireland, strictly speaking, never had till lately a national flag. The kings of Ireland previous to 1172 were not hereditary but elective. They were chosen from among the petty kings, and each king, when elected, brought with him and continued to use his own standard. After the invasion of 1172 the standard of Ireland bore three golden crowns on a blue field, and the three crowns appear on ancient Irish coins. Henry VIII. relinquished this device for the harp, from an apprehension, it is said, that the three crowns might be taken for the triple crown of the pope; but the harp did not appear in the royal standard till it was placed there by James I. Neither had St. Patrick a cross. The cross-saltire, so far as it belongs to any saint, is sacred to St. Andrew only. The origin of the Scottish saltire, however, may possibly be found in the sacred monogram—the Greek X (CH), the initial letter of our Lord's name as borne by the Emperor Constantine, to which I have already referred. I do not know when the Irish saltire was first introduced, as a national flag, but from the early conquest of Ireland the Fitzgeralds have borne as their arms a red saltire on a white field.[35]
[ [35] Heraldry of the Sea.
THE UNION FLAG.
In 1603, on the union of the crowns of England and Scotland, the first union flag was formed by the combination of St. George's cross with the saltire of Scotland; but this flag appears to have been used for ships only. The order by the king for its construction and use bears to have been made "in consequence of certain differences between his subjects of North and South Britain anent the bearing of their flags;" and in the proclamation issued in 1606, King James appoints that "from henceforth all our subjects of this Isle and Kingdom of Great Britain shall bear in the maintop the red cross commonly called St. George's Cross, and the white cross commonly called St. Andrew's Cross, joined together according to a form made by our heralds, and sent by us to our admiral to be published to our said subjects." This was the first union flag. The Scots being, however, sensitively jealous of England, insisted on using their own national flag as well as the union, and it was no doubt owing to this that the proclamation goes on to provide that "in their foretop our subjects of South Britain shall wear the red cross only as they were wont, and our subjects of North Britain in their foretop the white cross only, as they were accustomed." In the ensign the union was not worn till a considerable time afterwards—the union by itself being then as now worn by the king's ships as a jack at the bowsprit.
On the death of Charles I. the Commonwealth Parliament, professing to be the Parliament of England only, and of Ireland as a dependency, expunged the Scottish cross from the flag with its blue field. The flag of command ordered to take the place of the union, and to be borne by the admirals of the respective squadrons, at the main, fore, and mizen, is described[36] as "the arms of England and Ireland in two escutcheons on a red flag within a compartment or,"—that of the admiral, according to Mr. Pepys, being encircled by a laurel wreath, while those of the vice and rear-admirals were plain. The ensigns showed the Irish harp on the fly.[37]
[ [36] Order dated 5th March, 1649.
[ [37] Heraldry of the Sea, p. 8.
On the Restoration in 1660 the union flag was reintroduced, and when England and Scotland became constitutionally united in 1707, this was confirmed, with an order that it should be used "in all flags, banners, standards, and ensigns, both at sea and land." The order in council bears "that the flaggs be according to the draft marked C, wherein the crosses of St. George and St. Andrew are conjoined;" but none of the drafts appear in the Register. A representation of this flag will be found in Plate III. No. I., and there being no draft to copy, I have given it according to the verbal blazon, viz. azure a saltire argent surmounted by a cross gules fimbriated of the second—that is, the St. George's cross with a narrow white border.
On the union with Ireland in the beginning of the present century the Irish saltire was introduced. The St. George's cross remained as it was, but the saltires of Scotland and Ireland were placed side by side, but "counterchanged"—that is, in the first and third divisions or quarters, the white, as senior, is uppermost, and in the second and fourth the red is uppermost. The "verbal blazon," or written direction, is very distinct, but in making the flag, or rather in showing pictorially how it was to be represented, a singular and very absurd error occurred, which, in the manufacture of our flags, has been continued to the present day, and which it may be interesting to explain.
The verbal blazon is contained in the minute by the king in council, and in the proclamation which followed on it, issued on 1st of January, 1801. I need not give the technical words; suffice to say that the flag is appointed to be blue, with the three crosses, or rather, the one cross and two saltires combined. And, in order to meet a law in heraldry, that colour is not to be placed on colour, or metal upon metal, it is directed that where the red crosses of England and Ireland come in contact with the blue ground of the flag, they are to be "fimbriated"—that is, separated from the blue by a very narrow border of one of the metals—in this case silver, or white. Of heraldic necessity this border of both the red crosses fell to be of the same breadth. To use the words of the written blazon, the St. George's cross is to be "fimbriated as the saltire;" a direction so plain that the merest tyro in heraldry could not fail to understand it, and be able to paint the flag accordingly.
Let me premise another thing. It is a universal rule in heraldry that the verbal blazon, when such exists, is alone of authority. Different artists may, from ignorance or from carelessness, express the drawing differently from the directions before them, and this occurs every day; but no one is or can be misled by that if he has the verbal blazon to refer to.
Now, in the important case of the Union flag it so happened that the artist who, according to the practice usual in such cases, was instructed to make a drawing of the flag on the margin of the king's order in council, was either careless or ignorant or stupid. Most probably he was all three, and here is how he depicted it. The horizontal lines represent blue and the perpendicular red; the rest is white. (See Fig. 26.)
Fig. 26.—Union Flag as depicted A.D. 1801.
Now here, it will be observed, the red saltire of Ireland is "fimbriated" white, according to the instructions; and this is done with perfect accuracy, by the narrowest possible border. But the St. George's cross, instead of being fimbriated in the same way—which the written blazon expressly says it shall be—is not fimbriated at all. The cross is placed upon a ground of white so broad that it ceases to be a border. The practical effect of this, and its only heraldic meaning, is, that the centre of the flag, instead of being occupied solely by the St. George's cross, is occupied by two crosses, a white cross with a red one superinduced on it. So palpable is this that Mr. Laughton, the accomplished lecturer on naval history at the Royal Naval College, in a lecture recently published, suggests that this is perhaps what was really intended. "A fimbriation," he says, "is a narrow border to prevent the unpleasing effect of metal on metal or colour on colour. It should be as narrow as possible to mark the contrast. But the white border of our St. George's cross is not, strictly speaking, a fimbriation at all. It is a white cross of one-third the width of the flag surmounted of a red cross." And his hypothesis is that this may have been intended to commemorate a tradition of the combination of the red cross of England with the white cross of France.[38] The suggestion is ingenious and interesting, but it has clearly no foundation. There might have been something to say for it had there been only the drawing to guide us. In that case, indeed, the theory of Mr. Laughton, or some one similar, would be absolutely necessary to account for the two crosses. But Mr. Laughton overlooks the important facts, first, that we possess in the verbal blazon distinct written instructions; secondly, that where such exist no drawing which is at variance with them can possess any authority; and lastly, that in this case the verbal blazon not only is silent as to a second cross, but it expressly prescribes that there shall be only one, that of St. George. To that nothing is to be added—nothing, that is, but the narrow border or fimbriation necessary to meet the heraldic requirement to separate it from the blue ground of the flag, the same as is directed to be done, and as has been done, with the saltire of Ireland.
[ [38] Heraldry of the Sea, 1879.
Some years ago I called the attention of the Admiralty to this extraordinary blunder, and I pointed out then, just what Mr. Laughton has done in his recent lecture, that the flag, as made, really shows two crosses in the centre. The Admiralty referred the matter to Garter King of Arms, but Sir Albert Woods, while he did not say a word in defence of the arrangement, would not interfere. "The flag," he said, "was made according to the drawing,"—which was too true—"and it was exhibited," he added, "in the same way on the colours of the Queen's infantry regiments;" and, naturally enough, he declined the responsibility of advising a change. And so it remains. I may observe, however, that in one, at least, of the Horse Guards' patterns, the arrangement of the tinctures is not, as Sir Albert supposes, according to the original drawing, and it is different from the pattern prescribed by the Admiralty. I refer to the flag prescribed for the use of military authorities "when embarked in boats or other vessels." In that flag, of which an official copy is now before me, the fimbriation of the Irish saltire is of much greater breadth than it is in the Admiralty flag, while that saltire itself is considerably reduced in breadth.
Besides the error in the border of the St. George's cross, the breadth of the Irish saltire in all our flags, as now manufactured, is less than that of the white cross of Scotland, which is clearly wrong. For obvious reasons, and according to the written blazon, they ought to be the same. Indeed, all the three crosses ought to be of the same breadth. So great, however, is the difference in practice, that in the official Admiralty Directions for the construction of a flag of given dimensions, while the St. George's cross is appointed to be 18 inches in breadth, that of St. Andrew is to be only 9 inches, and the Irish cross only 6—this last being exactly the same as the breadth appointed for the border of the cross of St. George!
Figure II. of Plate III. shows the flag as made according to the erroneous pattern now in use. Figure III. shows it as it ought to be, and as it is appointed to be made by the distinct terms of the verbal blazon, in the order by the king in council. But the breadth of the St. George's cross I have left unaltered.
It is to be hoped that heraldic propriety will prevail over a practice originating in obvious error, and that our national flag will be flown according to its true blazon. The correction would be very easily made. The reduction of the breadth of the border of St. George's cross and the slight increase in the width of the Irish saltire would be little noticed, while, besides correcting obvious errors, it would have the advantage of bringing the flag, in one important respect, into conformity with the design as represented on the coinage. On the reverse of our beautiful bronze coins the St. George's cross on Britannia's shield is fimbriated as it ought to be, that is, by the narrow border prescribed by the written blazon.
UNION FLAGS AND PENDANT. PLATE III.
Fig. 27.
But if the penny is right in that respect, it exhibits another extraordinary example of our slipshod heraldry, by a variation of a different and more startling kind. My complaint against the flag, as made, is, that it represents four crosses, but on the penny there are only two. This was all right when the design was first made in the reign of Charles II., but when the third cross was added to the flag the three crosses should have appeared on the coin. A desire to adhere to the original design cannot certainly be pleaded, for there have been many changes in this figure of Britannia. She was first placed there by Charles II. in honour of the beautiful Duchess of Richmond, who sat to the sculptor for the figure. But her drapery on the coin of those days was very scanty, and her semi-nude state was hardly in keeping with the stormy waves beside which she was seated. Queen Anne, like a modest lady as she was, put decent clothing on her, and made her stand upright, and took away her shield, crosses and all. In the subsequent reigns she was allowed to sit down again, and she got back her shield, with the trident in her left hand and an olive-branch in the right. On the present coinage—a copy of which (the penny) is shown in Fig. 27—the drapery of Queen Anne is retained, but the figure is entirely turned round, and faces the sinister side of the coin, instead of the dexter, as at first, and the olive-branch (absit omen) has been taken away. But with all these changes there remain only two crosses on the shield. The reader will naturally suppose, however, that the omission consisted in not adding the Irish saltire to that of Scotland, which had been there from the first. But no. In this instance there was certainly no "injustice to Ireland," for the extraordinary thing is, that the St. Andrew's cross has been taken away altogether, and the saltire of Ireland, distinguished by its fimbriated border, has been put in its place, Scotland being not now represented on the coin at all. Of course this has arisen from mere carelessness at the Mint, but it is an error which ought to be at once corrected.
THE UNION JACK.
But to return to our flags. The Union Jack is a diminutive of the Union. It is exclusively a ship flag, and, although of the same pattern as the Union, it ought never to be called the Union Jack except when it is flown on the jack-staff,—a staff on the bowsprit or fore part of a ship. It is extraordinary how little this distinction is understood. For example, in the Queen's Regulations for the army a list of stations is given at which it is directed that "the national flag, the Union Jack, is authorized to be hoisted." And in a general order issued from the North British Head Quarters as to the arrangements to be observed on a recent occasion of the sitting of the General Assembly in Edinburgh, it was stated that "the Union Jack" would be displayed from the Castle and at the Palace of Holyrood. But the Union Jack is never flown on shore. The proper name of the national flag is the Union. It is the shore flag, and, except personal flags, the only one which is displayed from fortresses and other stations.
At the Royal Arsenal and a few other stations the Union flag is displayed daily. At others, such as Sandgate Castle and Rye, it is flown only on anniversaries. At Tilbury, Edinburgh Castle, and other places, it is hoisted on Sundays and anniversaries. And there are similar rules for foreign stations.
On board her Majesty's ships the Union is sometimes displayed, but only on special occasions. It is hoisted at the mizen top-gallant-masthead when the Queen is on board, the Royal Standard and the flag of the Lord High Admiral being at the same time hoisted at the main and fore top-gallant-mastheads respectively. And an Admiral of the Fleet hoists the Union at the main top-gallant-masthead. The Army Regulations, however, referring to the presence of the Queen on board ship, again confound the two flags, and prescribe that a salute shall be fired by forts whenever a ship passes showing the flags which indicate the presence of the sovereign, and among these is specified "the Union Jack at the mizen top-gallant-masthead." If the commandant of a fortress acted on this, her Majesty might pass every day of the year without a salute, as he would certainly never see the Union Jack in that position. The mistake is the more curious as the Regulations elsewhere distinguish the Union Jack from the Union by speaking of the latter as the "Great Union."
The Jack when flown from the mast with a white border is the signal for a pilot. In this case it is called the Pilot Jack. When flown from the bowsprit of a merchant ship it must also have a white border.
It has been said that the term "Jack" is derived from the name of the sovereign James I. (Jacques), in whose reign it was constructed. This is the legend at the Admiralty, but it is of doubtful authority. The Oxford Glossary says there is not a shadow of evidence for it, and traces the word to the surcoat worn of old by the soldiery called a jacque—whence jacket. But this also is doubtful.
The Union, or junction of the three crosses, is used in other cases in the royal navy, and also in the merchant service, not by itself, but in certain combinations.
THE ENSIGN.
The flag under which all our ships now sail is the Ensign.
In early times every chieftain or knight, whether serving in the field or on board ship, had his own distinguishing flag, and if several knights were embarked in one ship, the ship carried the flags of them all. In one of the illuminations of the reign of Henry VI., the sides of a ship are covered with shields, and in other examples armorial devices are even shown painted on the sails. When engaged in any active service, a ship would carry also the flag of the leader or admiral, and, in addition to this, the emblem of some patron saint, depending in this on the caprice or superstition of the owner. Besides these a ship usually bore the flag of her port—a usage which, so far as merchant ships are concerned, still holds among us in the practice of carrying what are known as "house flags," though now strictly subordinated to that of carrying the national ensign. With ships of other countries the usage continued till comparatively lately. In France, down to the Revolution, merchant ships flew the flag of their port more commonly than the flag of France; as for instance, of Marseilles, white with a blue cross; or of Dunkirk, barry of six argent and azure, with the alternative of the old English white ensign, white with a small St. George's cross in the upper corner next the hoist, derived from the English sovereignty in the seventeenth century.[39] In the same way in the Baltic: in the Netherlands almost every port had its own flag, and the free towns of Germany till quite recently followed the same practice. It was the same in England in early times—a sailor being more a sailor of his port than of his country.
[ [39] Laughton's Heraldry of the Sea.
Now, as a rule, the ships of all countries sail under their national colours. With us the flag under which all our ships sail is the Ensign, of which there are three—the white, the blue, and the red. It is a large flag of one of the colours named, with the Union in a square or canton at the upper part of the hoist. I may explain that the portion of a flag next the staff or rope from which it is flown is called the hoist, the next is called the centre, and the outer portion the fly. Besides the Union in the canton, the white ensign has the St. George's cross extending over the whole field.
Although the Union flag of Great Britain was appointed by royal order in 1606, it was not inserted in the Ensign till 1707. Previous to that the Ensign bore only the English cross in the canton.
In the royal navy, not always, but for some time previous to 1864, the fleet consisted of three divisions called the White, the Blue, and the Red Squadrons, each carrying its distinctive Ensign, and, latterly, each having its admiral called after the colour of his flag. But till 1805 there was no admiral of the Red. Previous to that the admiral commanding in the centre flew at the main, not the red flag, but the Union.
The first notice of the division of the fleet appears in a MS. report by Mr. Pepys, secretary to the Admiralty, in which it is stated that in the Duke of Buckingham's expedition against the Isle of Rhé in 1627 the fleet was thus divided. The notice is interesting:—"The Duke now lying at Portsmouth divided his Fleete into squadrons. Himselfe, Admirall and Generall in Chiefe, went in ye Triumph, bearing the standard of England in ye maine topp, and Admirall particular of the bloody colours. The Earle of Lindsay was vice-Admirall to the Fleete in the Rainbowe, bearing the king's usual colours in his fore topp, and a blew flag in his maine topp, and was admiral of the blew colours. The Lord Harvey was Rear Admirall in ye Repulse bearing the king's usual colours in his mizen, and a white flag in the maine topp, and was Admirall of ye squadron of white colours." In this instance it will be observed the blue flag took precedence of the white. Under the Commonwealth the blue was put down to the third place, and when on the Restoration the Union flag was reintroduced, the precedence of the three colours remained as it had been determined by the Commonwealth. The arrangement of the fleet into three divisions continued till 1864; but it often proved puzzling to foreigners, and it was found inconvenient in action. It was for this last reason that Lord Nelson, on going into action at Trafalgar, ordered the whole of his fleet to hoist the White Ensign, and it was under that flag that that great victory was gained.
During the wars of the seventeenth century the Dutch fleets were also divided into three squadrons, distinguished, like the English, by the three colours—orange or red, white, and blue, and both with them and in our own service this was perhaps necessary when fleets consisted of such a large number of ships—our own numbering often as many as 200 sail. Latterly, when fleets were comparatively so much smaller, the distinctive colours became of less importance, and in 1864 the classification was discontinued. Now the White Ensign only is used by all her Majesty's ships in commission. Previous to this it had been ordered by royal proclamation, in 1801, that merchant ships should fly only the Red Ensign, and this is still the rule; but since the three divisions of the fleet were abolished, the Blue Ensign is allowed to be used by British merchant ships when commanded by officers of the Royal Naval Reserve, provided one-third of the crew be men belonging to the Reserve. By permission of the Admiralty the Blue Ensign is also allowed to be used by certain yacht clubs; and the members of one club—the Royal Yacht Squadron—have liberty to use the White Ensign.
SPECIAL FLAGS.
The flag of the Lord High Admiral is crimson, having on it an anchor and cable, and it is hoisted on any ship of which that high officer is on board. It is also hoisted at the fore top-gallant-masthead of every ship of which the Queen may be on board. The flag of an admiral is white with the cross of St. George on it. It is only flown by an admiral when employed afloat, and then at the main, fore, or mizen top-gallantmast-head, according as he is a full, vice, or rear admiral.
The Union flag and the Blue Ensign are, with the addition of certain distinctive badges, used as personal flags by certain high officers, and also in particular departments of the service. For example, the flag of the Lord-lieutenant of Ireland is the Union with a blue shield in the centre, charged with a golden harp. The Governor-general of India has the Union with the Star of India in the centre surmounted by a crown, and this also is the flag of British Burmah. British ministers, chargés d'affaires, fly the Union with the royal arms in the centre within a circle argent surrounded by a wreath. Our consuls have the Blue Ensign with the royal arms in the fly. There are also differences in the Union or Ensign with distinctive badges for other offices and departments, and for the Colonies.
THE PENDANT.
The Pendant is a well-known flag in ships of war. It is of two kinds, the long and the broad. The first is a long, narrow, tapering flag—the usual length being twenty yards, while it is only four inches broad at the head. An Admiralty Memorandum regarding the history of our flags bears that the origin of the long Pendant is generally understood to have been this:—After the defeat of the English fleet under Blake, by the Dutch fleet under Van Tromp, in 1652, the latter cruised in the Channel with a broom at the mast-head of his ship, to signify that he had swept his enemies off the sea. In the following year the English fleet defeated the Dutch, whereupon the admiral commanding hoisted a long streamer from his mast-head to represent the lash of a whip, signifying that he had whipped his enemies off the sea. Hence the Pendant, which has been flown ever since. This certainly has been the popular tradition, and the English admiral may, on the occasion referred to, have adopted a flag of the description and for the purpose mentioned, but it was not altogether a new form of flag. In the Tudor MS. we find a description of a long tapering flag of somewhat the same description. It is called a Streamer, and is appointed to "stand in the top of a ship or in the forecastle, and therein is to be put no armes but a man's conceit or device, and may be of length 20, 30, 40, or 60 yards, and is slitt as well as a guydhomme or standard." From this description the streamer would appear to have been a personal flag bearing "the conceit or device"—crest, badge, or motto—of the owner.
As now used in our navy the long pendant is of two colours—one white with a red cross in the part next the mast; the other blue with a red cross on a white ground. The first is flown from the mast-head of all her Majesty's ships in commission, when not otherwise distinguished by a flag or broad pendant. The other is worn at the masthead of all armed vessels in the employ of the government of a British colony. (See Plate III. No. IV.)
The broad pendant or "burgee" is a flag tapering slightly and of a swallow-tailed shape at the fly. It is white with a red St. George's cross, and is flown only by a commodore, or the senior officer of a squadron, to distinguish his ship. If used by a commodore of the first class it is flown at the main top-gallant-masthead. Otherwise it is flown at the top-gallant-masthead.
SIGNALS AND OTHER FLAGS.
Signal flags are those which are used for communication between ships at sea. In the system instituted by James II. intelligence was communicated or messages interchanged by a confused number of flags exhibited at different parts of the ship. Now, signalling has been reduced to a complete system. The flags are of various shapes and colours, each flag representing a letter or number, and by a recent arrangement a universal code has been adopted by which vessels of different nations can now communicate.
A flag of truce is white, both at sea and on land, but on board ship it is customary to hoist with it the national flag of the enemy—the white flag at the main and the enemy's ensign at the fore. On one occasion during the war in 1814 when the French frigate Clorinde was about to be attacked by the British frigate Dryad, the commander of the former, being desirous to ascertain what terms would be granted in case he surrendered, hoisted French colours aft and English colours forward. Under cover of this the French frigate sent a boat with the message. The answer was a refusal to grant any terms, but the boat was allowed to return to the French frigate in safety before the Dryad filled and stood towards her.
The Ensign and Pendant at half-mast are the recognised signs of mourning. Sometimes also it is an expression of mourning to set the yards at what seamen call "a-cock-bill," that is all the yards topped up different ways on each mast; but this is chiefly done by foreigners, who, on Good Friday and other occasions, set their yards thus. It is also customary as a sign of mourning to paint the white lines of a ship of a blue colour. In older times, when ships were more gaudily painted and gilded than they are now, they were painted black all over as a sign of mourning.
The red or bloody flag is a signal of mutiny, and as such it was displayed in our own navy on two noted occasions in the end of last century, when the fleet at Spithead mutinied, and afterwards that at the Nore. In the latter case the mutineers hauled down the flag of Vice-admiral Buckner and in its stead hoisted the red flag. It is a singular fact, however, and characteristic of the British seaman, that on the 4th of June, the king's birth-day, while the mutiny was at its height, the whole fleet, with the exception of one ship, evinced its loyalty by firing a royal salute, and displaying the colours usual on such occasions, the red flag being struck during the ceremony, and only re-hoisted when it was over.[40]
[ [40] James' Naval History, ii. p. 73.
The yellow flag is the signal of sickness and of quarantine.
USE OF FLAGS IN NAVAL WARFARE.
Such are the principal naval flags. Of the circumstances in which they may or may not be legitimately used, especially in naval warfare, some interesting stories might be told.
Although it is prohibited to merchant ships to carry the colours used in the navy, this may be done in time of war to deceive an enemy. I may mention one instance when it was practised with happy effect. In the French war in 1797 the French Rear-admiral Sarcy, when cruising with six frigates in the Bay of Bali, came in sight of five of our Indiamen—one of them, the Woodford, Captain Lennox. They were homeward bound, and all richly laden, and to all appearance they had no chance of escape, when Captain Lennox rescued them by an act of great judgment and presence of mind. He first of all hoisted in his own ship a flag which the French admiral knew well—that of the British Admiral Rainier, blue at the mizen, and he made all the other ships in his company hoist pendants and ensigns to correspond. But he did more. He detached two of the Indiamen to chase and reconnoitre the enemy; and as these advanced towards the French reconnoitring frigate the Cybèle, the latter, completely deceived, made all sail to join her consorts with the signal at her mast-head—"The enemy is superior in force to the French." On this the French admiral, believing that he was in the presence of a powerful British squadron, made off with his frigates under all sail, and Captain Lennox and his consorts completed their voyage in safety. When Admiral Sarcy discovered afterwards the ruse that had been practised on him, and which had lost him a prize of such great value, his mortification may be imagined.
In going into action it is the custom with the ships of all nations to hoist their national colours. Nelson at Trafalgar carried this to excess, for he hoisted several flags lest one should be shot away. The French and Spaniards went to the opposite extreme, for they hoisted no colours at all, till late in the action, when they began to feel the necessity of having them to strike.[41] Nelson on that occasion ran his ship on board the Redoubtable, a large seventy-four gun ship, and fought her at such close quarters that the two ships touched each other. Twice Nelson gave orders to cease firing at his opponent, supposing she had surrendered, because her great guns were silent, and as she carried no flag there was no means of instantly ascertaining the fact. It was from the ship which he had thus twice spared that Nelson received his death wound. The ball was fired from the mizen-top, which, so close were the ships, was not more than fifteen yards from the place where he was standing. Soon afterwards the Redoubtable, finding further resistance impossible, hoisted her flag, only to haul it down again in sign of surrender, within twenty minutes after the fatal shot had been fired. In this great battle each of the Spanish ships had in addition to her ensign a large wooden cross hung to the end of her spanker boom.
[ [41] Southey's Life of Nelson.
When a ship surrenders the fact is usually intimated by her hauling down her flag, but in Lord Cochrane's spirited attack on the French fleet in Basque Roads in 1809, two of the French ships, the Varsovie and Aquilon, made the token of submission by each showing a Union Jack in her mizen chains; and in other instances during the war French ships hoisted a Union Jack as the signal of their having struck.
Of course when a ship has surrendered the fire of both ships ceases. In an action off Lissa between British ships and a Franco-Venetian squadron, the French ship Flore surrendered to the British frigate Amphion. Immediately afterwards the Venetian frigate Bellona bore up and commenced a heavy fire against the Amphion, and some of the shot struck the captured ship on the other side. Supposing, erroneously, that the shot came from the British ship, one of the officers of the Flore, in order to make more clear the fact of her having absolutely surrendered, took the French ensign, halliards and all, and holding them up in his hand over the taffrail to attract the attention of the Amphion's people, threw the whole into the sea. Having captured the Bellona also, the captain of the Amphion temporarily left the surrendered ship while he pursued another of the enemy, the Corona, which he also captured. When thus engaged, however, he was mortified to see his first prize, the Flore, notwithstanding her emphatic act of submission, dishonourably stealing away, and she actually effected her escape into the harbour of Lessina. Captain Hoste, who commanded the British squadron, afterwards sent a letter by a flag of truce to the captain of the Flore, demanding restitution of the frigate in the same state as when she struck her flag and surrendered to the Amphion; but the commander of the French squadron replied by a letter, neither signed nor dated, denying that the Flore had struck, and falsely asserting that the colours had been shot away. The letter was sent back and the demand repeated, but no answer was returned.
I may mention another instance in which captured colours were thrown into the sea in token of surrender under different circumstances, but not more creditable to the vanquished party. In the war between America and the Barbary States in the early part of the century, the United States schooner Enterprise, under the command of Lieutenant Sterrett, fell in with and engaged a Tripolitan polacre ship, and in the course of the action the colours of the latter were either shot away or struck—in all probability the latter, for the Americans believed she had surrendered and quitted their guns. The Corsair, however, re-hoisted her flag and continued the action. Thereupon the Enterprise poured in so destructive a fire that her opponent this time unequivocally hauled down her colours, and Lieutenant Sterrett ordered her under his lee quarter. This order was obeyed, but the Tripolitan, when he got there, thinking his position favourable, re-hoisted the red flag, and having poured another broadside into the Enterprise, prepared to board. The Americans, justly incensed at this treacherous act, delivered a raking broadside which effectually terminated the affair. The Tripolitan captain now abjectly implored the quarter which he had justly forfeited, and bending over the waist barricade of his ship, and as an indication of his sincerity, raised his colours in his arms and threw them into the sea.
In contrast to the conduct of the captain of the Flore in carrying off his ship after he had surrendered, may be mentioned the very different course taken by the officer in command of a French 40-gun frigate, the Renommée, which was captured off Madagascar in 1811, after an action between a French squadron, and a British squadron under Captain Schomberg. From the state of the British ships after the action, Captain Schomberg, when night was coming on, could only send on board the prize a lieutenant of marines and four seamen, in a sinking boat. At this time the Renommée had a crew of nearly 400 effective officers and men, and they could have had at once retaken the ship and got off during the night. The crew wished to do so, but Colonel Barrois, who—the captain having been killed—was now, according to the etiquette of the French service, the commanding officer, acting on a high principle of honour, refused to give his sanction, as they had surrendered by striking their flag. The lieutenant and his few hands remained accordingly in quiet possession of the prize, till the prisoners were taken out next morning, and a proper prize crew placed on board.
When an action takes place at night, when flags cannot be seen, other modes of intimating surrender have to be reverted to. In the war with America, in 1815, when a British ship in a disabled state found she had no alternative but to surrender at midnight to an American ship of superior force, she did so by firing a lee gun and hoisting a light. In another case a French frigate, the Néréide, after a severe action during night with the British frigate Phœbe, surrendered to the latter by hauling down a light she had been carrying, and hailing that she surrendered. In another case a French ship intimated the fact of her surrender by hoisting a light and instantly hauling it down.
When a ship has surrendered and is taken possession of, the captor hoists his ensign over that of the enemy. In one instance a mistake in this produced disastrous results. In the celebrated capture of the Chesapeake off Boston in 1813, when the American flag was struck, the officer of the Shannon who was sent on board the Chesapeake to take possession, inadvertently—owing to the halliards being tangled—bent the English flag below the American ensign instead of above it. By this time the two ships were drifting apart, and when the Shannon's people saw the American stripes going up first they concluded that their boarding party had been overpowered, and at once reopened their fire, by which their first-lieutenant and several of their own men were killed. The mistake was discovered before the flags had got halfway to the mizen peak, when they were hauled down and hoisted properly. In this brilliant but short action—for between the discharge of the first gun and the conclusion of the fight only fifteen minutes elapsed—the American ship, by way of display, carried more than the ordinary number of flags. She flew three ensigns, one at the mizen, one at the peak, and one, the largest of all, in the starboard main rigging. She had besides, flying at the fore, a large white flag inscribed with the words "Sailors' Rights and Free Trade," with the intention, it was supposed, of damping the energy of the Shannon's men by this favourite American motto. The Shannon had the Union at the fore and an old rusty blue ensign at the mizen peak, and besides these she had one ensign on the main stay and another in the main rigging, both rolled up and "stopped" ready to be cast loose in case either of the other flags should be shot away.
A similar display of flags occurred on the occasion of the encounter off Valparaiso in 1814 between the British 36-gun frigate Phœbe and the United States 32-gun frigate Essex, which resulted in the capture of the latter. Captain Porter, who commanded the American ship, made an attempt, as in the case of the Chesapeake, on the loyalty of the Phœbe's seamen, by hoisting at his fore top-gallant-mast head the stock motto, "Free Trade and Sailors' Rights." This, in a short time, the British ship answered with the St. George's ensign and the motto, "God and Country—British sailors' best rights: Traitors offend them." Subsequently the Essex hoisted her motto flag at the fore, and another on the mizen mast, with one American ensign at the mizen peak and a second lashed on the main rigging. Not to be outdone in decorations the British ship hoisted her motto flag with a profuse display of ensigns and union jacks, and all these were flying when the American ship was captured.
To hoist false colours in time of war in order to entice an enemy within reach has always been considered legitimate, but it is not allowable to engage, or to commit any hostile act, under them. While it is considered legitimate to mislead, however, it is not legitimate to cheat. An example of what might appear to be a distinction without a difference is afforded by a case which occurred in 1783, when the French ship Sybille, a powerful 36-gun frigate, was sighted off Cape Henry by the Hussar of 28 guns. The Sybille had, a few days before, had a drawn fight with one of our ships of the same force, and, in consequence of injuries she had then received, had been dismasted in a puff of wind, and was under jury masts. As she was unable to chase the Hussar, she sought to entice her alongside, in order to take her by boarding, and accordingly she hoisted at the peak the French ensign under the English, as if she had been captured. All this was legitimate, and the Hussar might or might not have been deceived by it. But the French captain did something more. He hoisted in the main shrouds an English ensign reversed, and tied in a weft or loop. Now this was a well-known signal of distress—an appeal to a common humanity, which no English officer was ever known to disregard, and the Hussar closed at once. But fortunately her crew were at quarters, and the Sybille, hauling down the English flag at the peak and hoisting the French above, endeavoured to run her on board. Her extreme rolling, however, steadied by no sufficient sail, exposed her bottom, and several shots from the Hussar went through her very bilge. By this time another of our ships, the Centurion of 50 guns, had come up, and the Sybille struck her flag—the reversed ensign with its weft, so dishonourably hoisted, remaining in the main shrouds. The English officer who took possession sent the French captain on board the Hussar, and he presented his sword to Captain Russell on the quarterdeck. Russell took the sword, broke it across, and threw it on the deck; and sending the Frenchman below, kept him in close confinement in the hold till his arrival in port some days later.[42]
[ [42] Laughton's Heraldry of the Sea.
I may mention another case where a legitimate ruse was successfully practised on an enemy by our great naval commander, Lord Cochrane. It occurred in the early part of his brilliant career, when he was cruising in the Mediterranean in his little brig the Speedy. This small craft, under her daring and skilful commander, had made herself so much an object of terror by the many captures she had made that a Spanish frigate, heavily armed, was fitted out and sent after her. In order to get near the Speedy the Spaniard was disguised as a merchantman. For the same reason, Lord Cochrane, to lull suspicion and enable him to get near the merchant craft of the enemy, had also disguised his small vessel, and was sailing as a merchant brig under Danish colours. Perceiving the supposed Spanish merchantman, Lord Cochrane at once gave chase, and he only discovered his mistake when his formidable antagonist opened her ports and showed her teeth. At the same time the Spaniard lowered a boat to go on board the Speedy and see what she was. Discovery and capture were apparently now unavoidable, but Lord Cochrane was equal to the occasion. Hoisting the yellow flag—the dreaded signal of sickness and quarantine—he made straight for the frigate, and, having dressed a petty officer in Danish uniform, on the gangway, he ordered him to hail the boat with the intimation that they were out just two days from Algiers, where it was well known the plague was then violently raging. This was enough. The boat pulled back, and the frigate at once filled and proceeded on her course.
It was a narrow escape; yet the crew of the Speedy complained loudly that they had not been allowed to fight the frigate! They had been admirably trained, and had implicit confidence in their brave commander, and thought he was equal to anything. Lord Cochrane was not a man to disregard murmurs uttered in such a direction, and he told them that if they really wanted a fight they would get it with the first enemy they came across, whatever she might be. They had not long to wait before they fell in with a large Spanish zebec, the Gamo, which, to the astonishment of the big ship, Lord Cochrane immediately attacked. A fight with the guns could not have lasted long, for the Spanish ship carried 30 heavy guns with a crew of upwards of 300 men, while the Speedy had only 14 four-pounders and a crew of 54 all told. Lord Cochrane, therefore, notwithstanding this immense disparity of force, determined, as his only chance, to board the frigate, and this he succeeded in doing, taking his entire crew with him and leaving only the surgeon at the wheel. A deadly hand-to-hand conflict ensued, when, just as his small band were nearly overpowered, Lord Cochrane ordered one of his men to haul down the Spanish colours. This was promptly done, and the Spaniards—their commander having been killed—thinking that their own officers had struck, ceased fighting, and Lord Cochrane became master of the frigate. How to take care of his numerous prisoners was not a small difficulty, but he succeeded in doing so, and brought his prize safely into Port Mahon. It was one of the most brilliant affairs in the glorious life of this great seaman.
Another interesting example of an enemy's ship being taken in consequence of her colours being hauled down, not by her own officers but by the party assailing, occurred at a much earlier period in an action between the British and Dutch fleets off the English coast. A runaway boy—Thomas Hopson—an apprentice to a tailor in the Isle of Wight, had just before come on board the admiral's ship as a volunteer. In the midst of the action he asked a sailor how long the fight would continue, and was told that it would only cease when the flag of the Dutch admiral was hauled down. The boy did not understand about the striking of colours, but he thought if the hauling down of the flag would stop the fight it might not be difficult to do. As the ships were engaged yard-arm and yard-arm, and veiled in smoke, Hopson at once ran up the shrouds, laid out on the mizen-yard of his own ship, and having gained that of the Dutch admiral he speedily reached the top-gallant-mast head and possessed himself of the Dutch flag, with which he succeeded in returning to his own deck. Perceiving the flag to be struck the British sailors raised a shout of victory, and the Dutch crew, also deceived, ran from their guns. While the astonished admiral and his officers were trying in vain to rally their crew the English boarded the ship and carried her. For this daring service the boy was at once promoted to the quarter-deck, and he rose to be a distinguished admiral under Queen Anne.
INTERNATIONAL USAGE AS TO FLAGS.
In time of peace it is considered an insult to hoist the flag of one friendly nation over that of another. This has given rise to an order that national flags are not to be used for decoration or in dressing ships. This order has reference more particularly to two flags, which are in ordinary use as signal flags. One of these is the French tricolour, but with the red and blue transposed; the other is the Dutch flag turned upside down, and there are two pendants to match. An unintentional departure from this rule gave rise to some unpleasantness on one occasion in the early part of this century. On the 23d of April, 1819, the English frigate Euryalus, lying at St. Thomas in the West Indies, had dressed ship in honour of St. George's day—the fête of the Prince Regent—and in doing so had made use of the blue, white, and red flag, which four years before had been the national flag of France. A three-coloured pennant hung down from the spanker boom and trailed in the water, and another three-coloured flag was at the lower end of the line pendant from the flying boom. This was observed by the French Rear-admiral Duperré, who was there in the Gloire, and he demanded and received apologies for what he conceived to be an insult offered to a flag which had lately been the flag of France, and under which he and many of his officers and men had served.[43]
[ [43] Heraldry of the Sea, p. 28.
If a foreign flag is hoisted on shore—as it often is in compliment to some distinguished stranger—it must have the staff to itself. In 1851, when the queen of Louis Philippe visited Oban, the proprietor of the Caledonian Hotel, at which she resided, in compliment to his visitor, and in ignorance, no doubt, of the proprieties of the case, hoisted the French flag over the Union. This excited the indignation of an old pensioner, John Campbell, who had been a sergeant in the 71st Highlanders—the regiment of Campbell of Lochnell—and he went to the innkeeper and demanded that matters should be put right. As no attention was paid to his remonstrance, he then and there cut down the French flag, and dared the innkeeper to hoist it again in that manner. The residents in Oban were so pleased with Campbell's spirited conduct that they presented him with a silver-headed stick.
In gun practice it is also held to be an insult to take as a mark the flag of another nation, and sometimes unintentional offence has been given through mistakes about the flags in such circumstances. For the following I am indebted to a distinguished naval officer who was cognizant of the circumstances. Some twenty years ago, when the French had an army of occupation in Syria, and their fleet and ours were lying amicably together at Beyrout, some of the English ships having occasion to practise the men with their rifles, put out their respective targets—which generally consisted of bits of old flags fastened to a stick, and stuck in a small cask anchored off at the required distance—and commenced firing. Presently a boat with a superior officer was seen pulling in hot haste from the French flagship. It afterwards transpired that the boat was conveying a polite request that the English would refrain from firing on the French flag—the officer at the same time pointing to an exceedingly dirty piece of bunting which was being riddled by the bullets from one of her Majesty's ships. "That's not the French flag," was the answer of the English. "Yes, I assure you," the Frenchman replied, "we are nearer than you are, and can see the colours. And, pardon me," he added, "another of your ships is at the present moment, in this Turkish port, firing on the Turkish flag"—pointing at the same time to another target, consisting of a faded bit of red bunting. Inquiries were made, and what had been taken for the Tricolour was found to be a piece of an old condemned Union Jack, that had unfortunately been nailed on to the staff without due regard to the position of the colours, while the so-called Turkish flag was discovered to be a fragment of an old English red ensign.
To the same naval officer I am indebted for the following amusing incident, which I am glad to give in his own words, as he was personally concerned in it. "About the same time," he writes, "another occurrence of the same kind took place at Larnaca, in Cyprus. It happily ended well, but at one time it looked quite serious. One of our surveying vessels had taken advantage of a lull in the work to practise her crew with her formidable armament of two twenty-four pounders, and on a bright calm Mediterranean morning the gunner was sent for by the senior lieutenant, and directed to prepare a target. But here there arose a difficulty. The ship had been a long time from Malta, stores of all kinds were scarce, and of old bunting there was absolutely none. The gunner was in despair, but a marine came to the rescue, and offered his pocket-handkerchief as a substitute. It was about the usual size of such articles, and as it had been bought at Malta while disturbances were pending at Naples, it had the Italian colours, green, white, and red, together with a pendant, printed on it, and on the white part some patriotic sentences in Italian. The whole presented an ancient and faded appearance, but the gunner accepted it with thanks.
"So it was duly nailed on a staff stuck into a small cask, and anchored about 600 yards to seaward. After the firing from the howitzers was finished the men were ordered to fire on it with rifles, which for a time they did. While this was going on a small French brig happened to be lying in the roads, and during the forenoon a boat was observed pulling from her in the direction of the target, but it did not venture very close; the firing was not suspended, and nothing further was thought about it. Before going to dinner in the middle of the day, a boat was sent to examine the target to see if it would float, as it was intended to continue the practice in the afternoon, and although it was reported to have been knocked about a good deal, it was thought it might remain afloat as long as it would be required, and so it was left. About an hour afterwards, however, it disappeared, and went to the bottom.
"The lieutenant, who had been weary with his work and had gone to bed early, was much astonished at being sent for by the captain about midnight. A formal despatch from our consul had come on board, inclosing a communication from the French representative giving a detailed account of what was described as a gross insult to the French flag, perpetrated by H.M.S. ——, and demanding all kinds of apologies. The prime mover in the affair, it appeared, was a certain captain Napoleon something, the commander of the little brig. His story was that he had seen with indignation the flag of his country—in size six feet square by his account—carried out by an English man-of-war boat, and deliberately fired upon. He and his crew, he said, had got into their boat determined to rescue the desecrated ensign, 'even at the risk of their lives,' but on getting near they had thought better of it, and pulled ashore instead. Here he had collected all the French residents he could get, whom he harangued, and having persuaded them that the scarcely visible speck was in truth their national flag, he got them to sign a strongly worded protest, and go with it along with him in a body to the French consul. Reparation, they said, must be made—the insulted flag must be saluted. So great was the excitement and so plausible the story that the French consul, pending negotiations, sent to Beyrout requiring the immediate presence of a French man-of-war. In fact there was all the groundwork of a very pretty row. Meantime the cause of all the commotion was lying at the bottom of the sea, with five or six fathoms of water over it. A written explanation of the circumstance was sent from the ship, and a meeting arranged for next day at the English consulate; and in the meantime a number of boats were sent early in the morning to try and fish up the bone of contention, as without it there was only the English word against the French. At the consulate there was a stormy meeting—much hard swearing and vociferation on the part of the French captain and his crew, with the affidavits of any number of respectable French residents, formally drawn up and signed. Everybody was getting very angry, and prospect of an amicable settlement there was none, when in a momentary lull the English lieutenant asked the French captain—who had for the fiftieth time declared that it was a French flag, and six feet square at least—'whether it was likely that he knew more about it than the marine who had blown his nose with it for the last six months.' This in some measure restored good humour. The meeting separated in a more friendly spirit than had at first seemed possible, and when, on the following day, a lucky cast of the grapnel brought to the surface the innocent cause of the disturbance, there was an end of the matter. Torn by bullets, draggled and wet as it was, the wretched handkerchief was borne in triumph to the French consulate, and of course there was no more to be said. The consul made the proper amende, and the man-of-war, which actually appeared from Beyrout a few hours afterwards to vindicate the honour of the French flag, returned to her anchorage."
I shall just add one more incident of the same kind, for which I am indebted to another naval officer. In 1879 an English corvette visited Tahiti. The island, being under French protection, flies a special flag, and as it is one which is not supplied to English men-of-war, it is usual, when it is necessary for them to salute, to borrow a protectorate flag from the authorities. On the occasion in question, accordingly, the flag was sent off by the governor's aide-de-camp (a naval officer) on the evening of the corvette's arrival at Papeite, and the flag having been hoisted on the following morning, the salute was duly fired. But the display of the flag caused a terrible commotion on shore. On such occasions the whole population turns out to see the salute, and the beach of the beautiful land-locked, or rather reef-inclosed, harbour was crowded with French and Tahitians watching the corvette, which was moored close under the town. The cause of the commotion was that the flag had been improperly made, so that in hoisting it the French ensign, by pure inadvertence, appeared underneath that of Tahiti. The indignation of the French was great, and they hastened to complain to the governor that their flag had been deliberately insulted by her Majesty's ship. The mistake, fortunately, lay entirely with the authorities on shore. It was only on hauling it down that the officer in command found it had been caused by the flag being improperly constructed, the technical explanation being that the distance line had been sewed in, the wrong way, with the taggle towards the bottom of the flag—a very trifling thing in itself, but which, if unexplained, might have led to serious consequences. Of course the flag was immediately sent to the governor with the explanation, and there was an end of it. So much for naval flags.
FLAGS OF THE BRITISH ARMY.
I have already noticed incidentally some of the flags used in the armies of England in early times. Those used in the latter part of the thirteenth century, and early in the fourteenth, were, besides those of the knights and bannerets, the Royal Standard and the banners of St. George, of St. Edmund, and of St. Edward. Subsequently various changes took place which it is unnecessary to follow.
At present in the British army every regiment of infantry has two flags. They are both made of silk, in this differing from sea flags, which are usually made of bunting. With the exception of the Foot Guards, the first or Queen's colours of every regiment is the Union or National Flag, with the imperial crown in the centre, and the number of the regiment beneath in gold. The second or regimental colours are, with certain exceptions, of the colour of the facing of the regiment, with the Union in the upper corner. The second colours of all regiments bear the devices or badges and distinctions which have been conferred by royal authority. Fig. 28 is a representation of the regimental or second colours of the first battalion of the 24th Regiment, for which I am indebted to the courtesy of Sir Albert Woods. It will serve as an example of the regimental colours of other regiments. The pole, it will be observed, is surmounted by the royal crest, and this is common to all regiments carrying colours. The ground of the flag is grass green. The crown and wreath are "proper," that is of the natural colours. The scrolls are gold with black letters.
Fig. 28.—Regimental Colours of First Battalion of 24th Regiment.
The first or royal colours of the Foot Guards are crimson, and bear certain special distinctions besides those authorized for the second colours—the whole surmounted by the imperial crown. The second, or regimental colours, of the Foot Guards is the Union, with one of the ancient badges conferred by royal authority. The first battalion of the Scots Fusilier Guards possesses the high distinction of carrying on their first colours the royal arms of Scotland.
Fig. 29.—Queen's Colours of the First Battalion of 24th Regiment.
The colours of infantry are as a rule carried by the two junior lieutenants, and our military annals present many examples of devoted heroism by the standard-bearers in defence of their charge. Among such incidents few are more interesting than the loss and recovery of the Queen's colours of the first battalion of the 24th Regiment in the African campaign of 1878-79, to which I have already referred. It will be recollected that Lieutenants Melville and Coghill, after crossing the river Tugela with the Queen's colours, were overtaken and attacked by overwhelming numbers and shot down. They died bravely, revolvers in hand, but their pursuers failed to get possession of their precious charge—the colours having been found near them when the bodies were recovered. The Queen was much affected by this incident, and bestowed on the young heroes after death the highest distinction for valour in her power—the Victoria cross. On the arrival of the colours in England the Queen expressed a wish to see them, and they were taken to Osborne, where her Majesty tied on them a small wreath of immortelles as a mark of her deep sense of the heroism of the two young officers who gave their lives to save the flag. Fig. 29 shows the colours in the state in which they were, when presented to the Queen, with the wreath placed upon them by her Majesty.
The colours of the second battalion of the 24th had been left in camp when the troops advanced to meet the Zulus, and they were consequently captured. No trace of them could be found till some time afterwards when the pole with its crown was recovered by a party of the 17th Lancers in a Zulu kraal near Ulundi. This remnant continued to be carried by the regiment for upwards of a year, when new colours were presented to them at Gibraltar on behalf of the Queen by Lord Napier of Magdala. The old colours, or rather their pole with the crown, were first trooped. The new colours were then uncovered, and, after consecration, presented—Lord Napier stating that her Majesty knew very well that the flag had not been lost through any default of the battalion, but only in consequence of their having been placed in camp when the battalion went to the front under the general commanding.
The presentation of new colours with the accompanying consecration service is an interesting ceremony. As the form may not be generally known, I shall describe a recent one when new colours were presented by the Prince of Wales to the first battalion of the 23d Regiment (the Royal Welsh Fusiliers) on their embarkation for India. It is specially interesting in connection with the history of the old ragged colours which were then superseded. They had been presented by the late Prince Consort thirty-one years before, and in the Crimea they were the first which were planted on the heights of the Alma. Two lieutenants were successively shot while holding them, and they were finally seized by Sergeant O'Connor, who, though wounded, held them aloft and rallied the regiment. For this service he was decorated with the Victoria cross. Shortly afterwards he received his commission, and subsequently he became colonel of the battalion. On the recent arrival of the troops at Portsmouth they were drawn up on the military recreation ground, and the Prince and Princess of Wales having taken their place at the saluting point, the regiment marched past, headed by the goat which always accompanies it. The old colours were then trooped and conveyed to the rear, and three sides of a square having been formed, with a pyramid of the drums in the centre, the new colours were uncased. The royal party then advanced, and the senior chaplain of the regiment read the Consecration service. The Queen's colours and the regimental colours were then handed to the prince, and he presented them to the two lieutenants who received them kneeling. The prince having spoken a few appropriate words, and the colonel having replied, the colours were saluted by the whole regiment. Another march past, and the presentation of the officers to the prince, concluded the ceremony.
In the cavalry the standards of regiments of Dragoon Guards are of crimson silk damask, embroidered and fringed with gold, and their guidons, anciently called "guydhomme"—a swallow-tailed flag—are of crimson silk. Each is inscribed with the peculiar devices, distinctions, and mottoes of the regiment. The standards and guidons of cavalry are carried by troop sergeant-majors. The Hussars and Lancers have no standards. They were discontinued, for what reason I do not know, by William IV., and their badges and devices are now borne on their appointments. Neither the Royal Engineers nor the Rifles have colours. Neither have the Royal Artillery; nor is it necessary that they should have any on which to record special services, for the Artillery is represented in every action. Their appropriate motto, Ubique, is borne on their appointments. None of the Volunteer regiments carries colours.
The queen's and regimental colours always parade with the regiment. On march they are cased, but they are always uncased when carried into action.
For military authorities "when embarked in boats or other vessels," there is, as we have seen, a special flag. It is the Union with the royal initials in the centre on a blue circle, surrounded by a green garland, and surmounted by the imperial crown.
USE OF FLAGS BY PRIVATE PERSONS.
In regard to the use of the national flag by private persons, there is a positive rule as to marine flags, but none, so far as I am aware, as to its use on shore. I have occasionally seen it flown on shore with a white border, under an impression, apparently, that this difference was necessary, but it is unmeaning, and there is no authority for it. In numberless instances we see one or other of the marine Ensigns hoisted on shore over gentlemen's houses, or used in street decoration on the occasion of public rejoicings; but nothing could be more absurd, as the ensign is exclusively a ship flag.
Any private individual entitled to armorial bearings may carry them on a flag. In such cases the arms should not be on a shield, but filling the entire flag.
The flags and banners represented in works on heraldry have almost invariably a fringe; but this is optional. If a fringe is used it should be composed of the livery colours, each tincture of the arms giving its colour to the portion of the fringe which adjoins it. In the British army the colours of the different regiments are fringed.
FOREIGN FLAGS: FRANCE.
My notice of foreign flags must be short. Those of France and America have naturally most interest for us.
Previous to the Revolution the French can hardly be said to have had a national flag. The colours of the reigning families—changing as they did with each fresh dynasty, as was the case in our own early history—were accepted in the place of national standards, while each regiment in the army followed colours of its own. The celebrated Chape de Saint Martin de Tours and the Oriflamme of the Abbey of Saint Denis, were, like the labarum of Constantine, ecclesiastical banners, symbolic of the two patrons of Christian France watching over her in her battles. The Chape de Saint Martin was a banner imitating in form a cape or cloak, and was of blue. The Oriflamme was red with a green fringe. By the end of the tenth century this had become the royal standard. In one of the windows of the Cathedral of Chartres (of the thirteenth century) there is a representation of Henri Sieur de Argentin et du Mez, Marshall of France under St. Louis, receiving from the hands of St. Denis a banner which is supposed to be the Oriflamme. Fig. 30 is a copy of this interesting old work of art. The banner, it will be observed, has five points; but in other examples it has only three, each having attached to it a tassel of green silk.
The royal banner of St. Louis was blue powdered with fleurs-de-lis in gold, and these fleurs-de-lis have remained since the eleventh or twelfth century a peculiarly French and royal device. It is indeed one of extreme antiquity, the emblem of a long-forgotten worship—older by many ages than any record of the doctrine of the Trinity, of which some have supposed this flower to be an emblem.[44]
[ [44] Laughton's Heraldry of the Sea.
Fig. 30.—The Oriflamme, circa 1248.
In the reign of Charles VI. the blue field ceased to be powdered with fleurs-de-lis, and was charged with three only—two and one. The white flag which became the standard of the kings of France was probably not introduced till the reign of Henry IV. But there is great confusion in the history of the French flags, and this is increased by the use of personal colours at sea, which continued among the French to a much later period than among the English. In the colours of the French regiments there has been great variety of design. Under the old monarchy the regimental colours were of two kinds—one was the drapeau-colonel, or royal; the other, called drapeau d'ordonnance, took its device from the founder of the particular regiment which carried it, or from the province of its origin. A common form of the royal colours was a white cross on a blue field. In other examples, sometimes the cross and sometimes the field were powdered with fleurs-de-lis. In some instances the field was green. The flag displayed by the French in 1789 was a white cross on a blue ground, with one fleur-de-lis at each corner of the field, and the motto "Patrie et Liberté."
The Tricolour was introduced at the Revolution, but the origin of the design is unknown. Possibly a trace of it may be found in an illumination in one of the MS. copies of Froissart. It represents the King of France setting out against the Duke of Brittany, and his majesty is preceded by a man on horseback bearing a swallow-tailed pennon, the first part containing the ancient arms of France, and each of the tails—composed of three stripes—red, white, and green.
For some time after the Revolution the white field was retained. When the three colours came to be used there appears to have been at first no fixed order in arranging them, and in some cases they were placed vertically, and in others horizontally. By a decree in 1790 it was ordained that in the navy the flag on the bowsprit—the jack—should be composed of three equal bands placed vertically, that next the staff being red, the middle white, and the third blue. The flag at the stem was to have in a canton the jack above described (occupying one fourth of the flag), and to be surrounded by a narrow band, the half of which was to be red and the other blue, and the rest of the flag to be white. In 1794 this flag was abolished, and it was ordered "that the national flag shall be formed of the three national colours in equal bands placed vertically, the hoist being blue, the centre white, and the fly red." It would appear, however, that this arrangement was not for some time universally adopted, and that old flags continued to be used. Thus, in the great picture by De Loutherbourg at Greenwich, the French ships are represented as wearing the suppressed flag of 1790; while, in a rare print preserved in the Bibliotheque Nationale at Paris, representing the magnificent ceremony at which the first Napoleon distributed eagles to the troops in 1804, the banners suspended over the Ecole Militaire in the Champ de Mars, where the ceremony took place, show the three colours in fess, that is, in horizontal lines. But the vertical arrangement must have been soon afterwards generally adopted, and this continued to be the flag both of the French army and navy during the Empire. On the return of the king in 1814, and again in 1815, it was abolished, and the white flag restored; but the Tricolour was reintroduced in 1830, and it has remained in use since.[45]
[ [45] See French Imperial Standard, and National Flag, Plate IV. Nos. 2 and 3.
Fig. 31.
When the Emperor Napoleon assumed the sovereignty of Elba he had a special flag made. It will be recollected that he was allowed to retain the title of emperor, and although the island which comprised his dominions was only sixty miles in circumference, the inhabitants barely 12,000, his household 35 persons, and his entire army only 700 infantry and 60 cavalry, he considered it necessary to have a "national flag." According to Sir Walter Scott, it bore on a white field a bend charged with three bees. But the emperor was preparing another and very different flag for his small army, of which I am able to give a representation from a very rare coloured engraving.[46] It was the tricolour of France, composed of the richest silk with the ornaments elaborately embroidered in silver. It bore the imperial crown with the letter N, and the eagle, on each of the blue and red portions, with the imperial bees; and over all the inscription, "L'Empereur Napoléon à la Garde Nationale de L'lle d'Elbe." To the staff, the top of which was surmounted by a golden eagle, was suspended a tricoloured sash also richly embroidered in silver. This splendid standard was presented by Napoleon to his guards in Elba shortly before his invasion of France in 1815. On the reverse side there was subsequently embroidered the inscription, "Champ de Mai"—the flag having been a second time presented by the emperor to his guards at that celebrated meeting, a short time before they marched for Waterloo. The standard was captured by the Prussians, and on their entering Paris was sold to an English gentleman who brought it to England.[47]
[ [46] See Frontispiece.
[ [47] When the drawing of it was taken it was in the possession of Bernard Brocas, Esq., at Wokefield.
NATIONAL FLAGS AND STANDARDS. PLATE IV
The lately-abolished Eagle (Fig. 31) was borne as a standard in the French army during the Empire only. It was introduced by Napoleon I., who adopted it from the Romans. The ribbon attached was of silk five inches wide and three feet long, and richly embroidered. After Napoleon's fall the eagles were abandoned, but they were again introduced by Napoleon III. In consequence of their intrinsic value, they proved in the Franco-German war a much-coveted prize among the Germans, who captured a considerable number of them on the successive defeats of the French. The first Napoleon was very careful of the Eagles. He himself tells us, in one of the conversations at St. Helena, that he established in each regiment two subaltern officers as special guardians of the Eagle. "Ils n'avaient d'autre arme," he says, "que plusieurs paires de pistolets: d'autre emploi que de veiller froidement a bruler la cervelle de celui qui avancerait pour saisir l'aigle."
The Dutch and Russian ensigns have the same tinctures as those of the present French flag, but borne fess ways—that is horizontally. The former has the red uppermost. The latter has the metal, the white, uppermost, and the two colours, the blue and the red—against all our notions of heraldic propriety—placed together below. (See Dutch and Russian flags, Plate IV. Nos. 6 and 8.)
The Belgian colours adopted in 1831 are arranged as the French, but the colours are black, yellow, and red. (Plate IV. No. 5.) The flag of Prussia is also composed of three stripes-black, white, and red, but arranged horizontally. (Plate IV. No. 4.) The flag of Mexico is arranged like that of France, but the colours are green, white, and red. (Plate IV. No. 10.)
THE AMERICAN FLAG.
The history of the American flag is interesting. Previous to the Declaration of Independence the different colonies retained the standards of the mother country with the addition of some local emblem. Massachusetts, for example, adopted the pine-tree, a device which was also placed on the coins. In 1775 "the Union with a red field"—a red ensign—was displayed at New York on a liberty poll with the inscription, "George Rex and the Liberties of America;" and it is interesting to note that the first flag adopted as a national ensign by the ships of the United States consisted of the horizontal stripes with which we are familiar, but with the British Union still retained in a canton. This was replaced by the stars on a blue ground. Some of the flags first used—at the time when only twelve states had ratified the articles of convention—bore only twelve stars. On the 14th of August, 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 a new constellation." (See Fig. 32.)
It has been said that the design of the flag was derived from arms borne by the family of Washington; but there is no foundation for this. An American writer—with probably as little ground for the statement—says: "the blue field was taken from the Covenanters' banner in Scotland, likewise significant of the League and Covenant of the United Colonies against oppression, and incidentally involving vigilance, perseverance, and justice. The stars were then disposed in a circle symbolizing the perpetuity of the union, as well as equality with themselves. The whole was a blending of the various flags used previous to the war, viz. the red flags of the army and white colours of the floating batteries—the gem of the navy."[48]
[ [48] Article on "Flags," by H. K. W. Wilcox, New York, Harper's Magazine, July, 1873.
Fig. 32.
In 1795 it was ordained that the stripes should be increased to fifteen and the stars to the same number; but in 1818 Congress ordered a return to the thirteen stripes but with twenty stars, and that on the admission of any new state a star should be added. Thus the old number of stripes perpetuated the original number of the states forming the union, while the added stars show the union in its existing state. In consequence of the greatly increased number of stars, the circular arrangement had to be abandoned, and they are now disposed in parallel lines. (See flag of the United States, Plate V. No. 8.) The construction of the first national standard, from which the stars and stripes were afterwards adopted, took place at Philadelphia in 1777 under the personal direction of Washington aided by a committee of Congress.
The flag of the American admirals is composed of the stripes alone, and the stars are used separately as a jack. One of the first American flags used at sea, and bearing only the twelve stars, is still preserved. It is the flag which was flown by the celebrated Paul Jones from his privateer, the Bon homme Richard, in his engagement with the English ship Serapis on 23d September, 1799. In the course of the action the flag having been shot away from the mast-head, Lieutenant Stafford, then a volunteer in Paul Jones' ship, leaped into the sea after it, and recovered and replaced it, being severely wounded while performing this action. The flag thus saved was afterwards presented to him by the marine committee of Congress, and it now (1880) belongs to his son.[49]
[ [49] Letter in Daily Telegraph, 18th March, 1880, by Mr. W. Stafford Northcote.
NATIONAL FLAGS AND STANDARDS. PLATE V.
I may mention that the white and red stripes are not peculiar to the American flag. A flag of similar design was for a long time a well-known signal in the British navy, being that used for the red division to draw into line of battle.
OTHER FOREIGN FLAGS.
The flag of Liberia is very like that of the United States, being composed of red and white stripes with a blue canton. The only difference is that the latter bears only one star. (See the flag of Liberia, Plate V. No. 6.) The flag of Bremen is also composed of red and white stripes.
Spain from the first period of her greatness bore the Castilian flag, quartering Castile and Leon. In an old illumination representing the coronation of Henry, son of John, King of Castile, there are on the king's left hand two men, unarmed, the one holding a banner of Castile and Leon quarterly, the other a blue pennon charged with three kings' heads-the banner of the three kings of Cologne. On his majesty's right hand a man, also unarmed, holds a shield with the arms of Castile and Leon. It was this last device, as a national flag, that was carried by the ships of Columbus. But Columbus had also as a personal flag one given to him by Queen Isabella—a white swallow-tailed pennon bearing a Latin cross in green between the letters FY crowned. These two flags are noteworthy as the first that crossed the Atlantic.
The present royal standard of Spain is of very complicated construction (see Plate V. No. 1), embracing among its bearings the arms of Castile and Leon, of Aragon, Sicily, Burgundy, and others. The national ensign is in marked contrast by its simplicity. It is composed of yellow and red stripes—derived from the bars of Aragon. (See Plate V. No. 2.)
Austria at first bore on her flag the Roman eagle. Now her war ensign is red, white, and red placed horizontally, and in the centre a shield of the same within a gold border (the arms of the Dukes of Austria), surmounted by the royal crown. (See Plate V. No. 3.) The merchant flag is the same without the shield and crown. The Austro-Hungarian flag has the lower stripe half red and half green, with two shields, one on the right containing the arms of Austria, and the other bearing the arms of Hungary. (See Plate V. No. 4.)
The flag of Italy was designed by Napoleon I. on his declaration of the Kingdom of Italy. It is a modification of the French, the division of the field next the staff being, instead of blue, green, which, it is known, was a favourite colour of the emperor. In the centre is a red shield charged with a white cross—the arms of the Dukes of Savoy, now borne by Italy. A representation of the Italian merchant flag will be found on Plate V. No. 5. The war ensign is the same, except that the shield is surmounted by the royal crown.
In the construction of the flag of Norway, curiously enough, the same blunder has been committed as in our own Union. It is "described" as a blue cross fimbriated white; but the border, as the flag is worn, is too broad, and it really represents two crosses, a blue cross superimposed on a white one—just as our St. George's cross, as represented in our national colours, is nothing but a red cross superimposed on a white one. Mr. Laughton accordingly looking at the Norwegian flag in this light, calls it the white flag of Denmark with a blue cross over it,[50] which it was certainly not intended to be. The flag is shown in Plate V. No. 11. The Swedish-Norwegian union in the canton was introduced in 1817, when the two countries were united under one king.
[ [50] Heraldry of the Sea, p. 23.
The Danish flag (see Plate V. No. 7) is the oldest now in existence. The tradition is that it descended from Heaven ready made in the year 1219 in answer to the prayer of King Waldemar, as he was leading his troops to battle against the pagans of the Baltic. Be that as it may, it certainly dates from the thirteenth century.
The flag of Portugal has borne a conspicuous part in history, and the devices in it carry us back to a very early period. The present royal standard is red with a red shield in the centre charged with towers or castles for the kingdom of Algarve, which Alphonsus III. got from the King of Castile when he married the daughter of the latter in 1278; and in the centre there is a white shield bearing on it the shields of the five Moors placed crossways. The Portuguese national flag is per pale, blue and white, and in the centre point is the same device as appears on the royal standard. The present flag, however, is only a modification of the old flag which was carried by the early discoverers, and which brought glory to Portugal in the days of Prince Henry the Navigator. (See the national flag of Portugal, Plate V. No. 12.)
The royal standards of Norway and Sweden, and also the ensign of these kingdoms, are peculiar in preserving the ancient form of having the fly ending in three points. (See the Swedish standard, Plate V. No. 10.)
Greece has adopted the colours of Bavaria in compliment to her first king. (See Plate VI. No. 7.)
The devices on some of the Asiatic flags are peculiar. That of Burmah bears a peacock; Siam, a white elephant; and China, a hideous-looking dragon. (See these flags, Plate VI. Nos. 1, 2, 3.) On the flag of Bolivia (Plate VI. No. 4) is the representation of a volcano, suggested in all probability by the great volcano of Serhama, which rises in Western Bolivia to the height of 23,000 feet. Japan, the land of the far east, the source of the sun, as her name signifies, has adopted for her flag the sun rising blood-red. (See Plate V. No. 9.)
NATIONAL FLAGS AND STANDARDS. PLATE VI.
The flag of Brazil, which is very inartistic in its construction, bears among other devices the armillary sphere of Portugal. (See Plate VI. No. 8.)
In Plates IV. V. and VI. will be found representations of the flags of other kingdoms and republics. These speak for themselves, and do not call for particular description.
But I must now bring these notices to a close. To the true patriot of every country the national flag must be a subject of pride. If, as a French writer observes, it does not always lead him to victory, it inspires him to fight well, and if need be to die well. "We pay to it," says the same writer, "royal honours. When it is paraded—in rags it may be, and with faded colours, bearing in letters of gold the names of victories—the troops present arms, the officers salute it with the sword, and the white heads of veteran generals are uncovered and bent before the ensign." To the soldier its loss is one of the greatest calamities. In Napoleon's disastrous retreat from Moscow in 1812 not many of his flags remained with the Russians. Of those which were not carried off most were burned, and of some of these the officers drank the ashes. More recently the same thing is said to have been done at Metz and Sedan. So a French writer tells us, and he characterizes the act as "communion sublime!"
What the flag is, indeed, to the sailor and the soldier, whether when shaken out in battle or when displayed in memory of great victories, none but the soldier and the sailor can realize. At the interment of Lord Nelson, when his flag was about to be lowered into the grave, the sailors who assisted at the ceremony ran forward with one accord and tore it into small pieces, to be preserved as sacred relics. "I know," says Charles Kingsley—in those Brave Words which he addressed to our soldiers then fighting in the trenches before Sebastopol, "I know that you would follow those colours into the mouth of the pit; that you would die twice over rather than let them be taken. Those noble rags, inscribed with noble names of victory, should remind you every day and every hour that he who fights for Queen and country in a just cause is fighting not only in the Queen's army but in Christ's army, and that he shall in no wise lose his reward."
INDEX.
A.
Armenian Flag, [110].
Army, British, Flags of, [96].
Artillery—have no colours, [101].
Assyrian Standards, [17], [19].
Austria, Flag of, [114].
Austro-Hungary, Flag of, [114].
B.
Banner of St. Cuthbert, [33].
Banner-bearers, [33].
Bannerets, [30].
—— their following, [32].
Banners, [29].
Belgian Flag, [109].
Beverly, Sir John of, his banner, [33].
Black Prince at Navarete, [31].
"Bluidy Banner" of Covenanters, [52].
Bolivia, Flag of, [116].
Brazil, Flag of, [117].
Bryon, Sir Guy de, banner-bearer of Edward III., [34].
Burmah, Flag of, [116].
—— British, Flag of, [71].
C.
Carlaverock, Siege of, [32].
Chandos, Sir John, made banneret, [31].
China, Flag of, [116].
Colours of British Army, [96].
Colours of 24th Regiment, [96], [98].
—— of Foot Guards, [97].
—— of Cavalry, [101].
—— Presentation of new, [100].
Columbus, his flag, [113].
Commonwealth, Flag of, [56].
Constantine, Standard of, [25].
Consuls, Flags of, [71].
Coronations, Banners borne at, [35].
Covenanters, Flags of, [51], [52].
Custodiers of Banners, [34].
D.
Danish Flag, [115].
—— Standards, [27].
—— Flag, [109].
Deceiving enemy, Use of Flags in, [76].
Douglas. See Earl Douglas, [47], [48], [49].
Dragon—Standard of Romans and Dacians, [25].
Dragon—Standard of Germany and England, [25].
Dragoon Guards, Colours of, [101].
Dutch Fleets, [70].
E.
Eagle, Roman, [21].
—— French, [108].
Earl Douglas, his standard, [47], [48].
Earl Marshall, his standard, [46].
Earl Percy—love pledges, [48].
Edward III., his banner, [34].
—— his standard, [37].
Egyptian Standards, [13], [14], [15].
Engineers, Royal—have no colours, [101].
Ensign, The, [67].
F.
False Colours, when may be used, [83].
Firing at Colours of a friendly nation, [90].
Flag, waving, First introduction of, [26].
Flag of Mutiny, [75].
Flags, First forms of, [27].
—— Different kinds of, [28].
—— Hauling down enemy's, [86].
—— Usage, International, as to, [88].
—— of British army, [96].
—— of military authorities embarked in boats, [102].
Flags, Special, [71].
—— of private persons, [102].
Fleurs de lis of France in arms of England, [37].
Flodden, Battle of, [46].
Foreign Flags, [103].
—— —— use of at home, [89].
French Flags, [103].
Funerals, Banners borne at, [35].
G.
George III., his standard, [41].
Gonfanon, [28].
Greece, Flag of, [116].
Greeks, Standards of, [26].
H.
Hauling down enemy's colours, [86], [87].
Hebrew Standards, [15].
Henry II., his standard, [37].
Henry VII., his personal standard, [38].
Hopson, Admiral, [87].
Hussars—have no colours, [101].
I.
India, Governor-general of, his flag, [71].
International usage as to flags, [88].
Ireland, National flag of, [54].
—— Lord-lieutenant of, his flag, [71].
Italy, Flag of, [114].
J.
Jack, Union, [64].
—— pilot, [66].
James I., his standard, [40].
Japan, Flag of, [116].
K.
Knights Bannerets, [30].
L.
Labarum, Roman, [24].
Lancers—have no colours, [101].
Liberia, Flag of, [113].
Lord-lieutenant of Ireland, his flag, [71].
M.
Marshall. See Earl Marshall, [46].
Mary Stuart, Queen, her standard, [40].
Moscow, Flags destroyed in Napoleon's retreat from, [117].
Mourning, Flags signifying, [74].
Mutiny, Flag hoisted in, [75].
N.
Napoleon I., Standard presented by to his guards, [107].
National Flags, [54].
Navarete, Battle of, [31].
Norman Standards, [27].
Norway, Peculiar form of Flag of, [115], [116].
O.
Otterbourne, Battle of, [47].
P.
Pacha, Standard of, [21].
Parley, Signal for, [34].
Parthians, Banners of, [25], [26].
Paul Jones, his flag, [110].
Pendant, The, [72].
—— Long, [73].
—— Broad, [73].
Pennon, [28].
Penny, Design of Union on, [63].
Penoncel, [28].
Percy. See Earl Percy, [48].
Persian Standards, [20].
Portugal, Flag of, [115].
Private persons, Use of flags by, [102].
Prussian Flag, [109].
Q.
Quarantine, Flag of, [75].
R.
Rifle Brigade—has no colours, [101].
Royal Standard of England, [36], [40].
—— of Scotland, [38].
Russian Flag, [109].
S.
Saxons, Standards of, [27].
Scottish Arms, their precedence on Royal standard, [42].
Sedan, Flags destroyed by French at, [117].
Siam, Flag of, [116].
Sickness, Flag intimating, [78].
Signal Flags, [73].
Spain, Flag of, [114].
Special Flags, [71].
Squadrons, Division of navy into, [68].
Standard, Battle of, [28].
Standard, The Royal, [36], [40].
—— —— when hoisted in ships, [44].
Standards, Ancient, [13].
—— of the Hebrews, [15].
—— of the Assyrians, [17], [19].
—— of Persians, [20].
—— of Turks, [20].
—— of Pachas, [21].
—— of Greeks, [26].
—— Parthian, [26].
—— of Danes, [27].
—— of Saxons, [27].
—— of Normans, [27].
—— suspended from trumpets, [35].
—— at coronations and funerals, [35].
—— Personal, of sovereigns, [38].
—— borne by Nobles, [44].
—— borne by Trades, [50].
Supporters of Royal Arms, [43].
Surrender, Signal of, at sea, [77], [81].
—— of a fortress, [34].
Swedish-Norwegian Flag, [115].
T.
Trades, Standards borne by, [50].
Truce, Flag of, [74].
Trumpets, Banners suspended from, [35].
Turkish Standards, [20].
U.
Union, Design of, on penny, [63].
—— Flag, The first, [55].
—— under Commonwealth, [56].
—— on Restoration, [56].
—— present form, [57].
—— Error in construction of, [58].
—— as it ought to be made, [62].
—— how and when displayed, [65], [66].
—— in Ensign, [68].
—— Jack, [64].
United States Flag, [110].
Usage, International, as to flags, [88].
Uses of Flags in naval warfare, [75].
V.
Volunteer Regiments—have no colours, [102].
W.
Warwick, Earl of, his standard, [45].
William III., his standard, [41].
Wolf, on Roman Standard, [21].
Y.
Yellow Flag, [75].
—— Successful use of, by Lord Cochrane, [85].
Transcriber's Notes:
The illustrations have been moved so that they do not break up paragraphs and so that they are next to the text they illustrate. Thus the page number of the illustration might not match the page number in the List of Illustrations, and the order of illustrations may not be the same in the List of Illustrations and in the book. Also the titles in the List of Illustrations do not necessarily match that of the illustration captions.
Errors in punctuations and inconsistent hyphenation were not corrected unless otherwise noted.
On page 55, "Andrews" was replaced with "Andrew's".
On page 71, "top-gallantmast-head" was replaced with "top-gallant-masthead".
On page 73, two instances of "top-gallantmast head" were replaced with "top-gallant-masthead".
On page 96, "buntin" was replaced with "bunting".