By the Admiralty Regulations, afterwards issued, instructions are given as to the relative proportions of the parts of these flags.
In the Red and Blue Ensigns the Union Flag in the upper quarter next the staff is to be "in length half the length of the flag, and in width half the width of the flag."
In the White Ensign the Red Cross of St. George, which runs through the whole of the white field, is to be "2-15ths of the width of the flag." The Union is to occupy the upper quarter next the staff, leaving the whole Cross intact. This was virtually adding the Union Jack to the original English Jack of Richard I.
By a special Act it was afterwards more particularly enacted in 1889:
"The Red Ensign, usually worn by merchant ships without any defacement or modification whatsoever, is hereby declared to be the proper national colour of all ships and boats belonging to any subject of Her Majesty, except in the case of Her Majesty's ships, or in the case of any other ships for the time being allowed to wear any other national colours in pursuance of a warrant from Her Majesty or from the Admiralty."[185]
It may be that the Red Ensign, which was the common flag of all the people ashore and afloat and the admiral's flag of highest rank and worn by the merchant ships, in the time of the Dutch wars, was given to the merchantmen in recognition of their great services in winning the supremacy of the sea; that the White Ensign was given to the Royal Navy in recognition and memory of Trafalgar; and the Blue Ensign to the Royal Naval Reserve because they were the rear guard to Her Majesty's ships; but the Union Jack was the binding link between them all, and established their rank and designation as "Union Ensigns."
The Red Ensign, first with its St. George cross under Charles II., afterwards with its two-crossed Union Jack under Queen Anne, and then with its three-crossed Jack, had thus become the national ensign on all British ships at sea, and not being restricted to any particular services, as are the white and blue ensigns, and in its red form, authorized by Queen Anne for use on land, it increased in its usage, and has become the Ensign of the British people on shore as well as afloat.
"Where is the Briton's land? Where'er the blood-red ensign flies, There is the Briton's land."
Whether it be in the "right little, tight little islands" of the old land, or in the greater area of the colonies which stud the globe, the presence of this Union Ensign proclaims the sovereignty of the united nations and the presence and protection of the British Empire.