In the bringing in of the additional red saltire cross of Ireland, the diagonal space previously allotted in "Draft C, 1707," to a saltire cross is now equally divided between the white and the red saltire crosses of the kingdoms, and to give them equal recognition and honour, the edging of white necessary to separate the red saltire of St. Patrick from the blue ground of the flag is taken from its own half of the diagonal space allotted to it instead of from the Scotland's blue, and this was duly balanced by the retention of the full broad white border space around the St. George, which in the new flag represented both the white grounds of the St. Patrick and the St. George, as the blue ground did that of St. Andrew's flag.
Thus the intentions of the designers of 1707 were followed, confirmed and extended by the designers of 1800. The drafts and orders in Council issued in pursuance of them are the authority which must be recognized in the making of the flag, and not the interpretation of a description or "blazon" given of it in the proclamation issued after the Union Jack had already been approved and adopted.
It has been said that the wording of the blazon, "the cross of St. George fimbriated as the saltire," is to be taken as indicating the "width" as well as the "colour" of the fimbriation, and that, therefore, it should be reduced to a narrow heraldic edging. Others consider that as heraldry does not deal with sizes as exact dimensions, the wording means simply, "of the same colour as the saltire," and has no reference to the width, and some criticisms have described the "blazon" as being "very obscure."[131]
In consequence of these interpretations, proposals have, at times, been made for altering the Union Jack, "so as to bring it more into accordance with the blazon and with heraldic rules," but as has been well said, "flag making is not pure heraldry; it is affected by considerations of symmetry, proportion and in no small measure of usage and prescription."[132]
Our Union Jack, in its present form, has unquestionably been made as it was ordered to be made in 1707 and in 1800, and proclaimed in 1801, whether the description in the proclamation be correctly expressed or not.
But in addition to the general form of the design, as given in the "Draft C, 1800," there were also detailed regulations issued for the making of the flag, which are the same as the rules prescribed by the Admiralty of the present day[133] for the several proportions of the Union Jack as always and now issued.
From these regulations it is clearly evident that the recognition which the white ground of St. George's Jack had been given in the flag of 1707 was intended to be continued. While the pattern drafts of the Councils were of square form, the Admiralty adopted a longer form, as "the practice has been, in regard to the dimensions of flags generally, to make the length twice the breadth at the head." This is the usual length adopted for flags which are not square, although the flag of an admiral, which is the old English St. George, still continues to be one and a half times as long as it is broad.
The dimensions are given in full detail in the regulations.
An outline drawing (51) of the flag of the same form as the Admiralty pattern is given for convenience of reference. The proportions of the several crosses and borders are directed in the regulations to be made according to the measurement called the "width of the flag," being the measurement on the "halliard" or "hoist," which is the side next to the flagstaff, and are as follows:
Regulations for the Sizes of the Parts of the Union Jack,