changed to red is very doubtful; Fournier, writing in 1643, we see refers to the Dutch flag as a tricolor of red, white, blue.
Fig. [237] represents the Royal Standard of Holland; the army and navy and commercial flags are similar, except that the Royal Arms are not introduced.
During the general effervescence caused by the French Revolution, the naval flag of Holland had in the upper staff-corner a white canton, charged with a figure of Liberty, but the innovation was not at all popular, as the sailors preferred the old tricolor under which the great victories of Reuter and Van Tromp were gained, and in 1806 it was deemed expedient to revert to it.
The brilliant scarlet, yellow, and black tricolor represented in Fig. [236] is the flag of Belgium. The Standard has, in addition, the Royal Arms placed in the centre of the yellow strip. The black, yellow, and red, are the colours of the Duchy of Brabant, and these were adopted as the national flag in 1831.
From 1477 onwards we find Belgium under Austrian domination, and in 1566 it fell into the hands of Spain. In 1795, and for some years following, it was held by France, and in 1814 was handed over to the Prince of Orange, but in 1830 the Belgians rose against the Hollanders, and before the end of the year their independence was acknowledged by the Great Powers, and Leopold of Coburg, in the following year, became first King of Belgium. Within a month of his accession to the throne, the Dutch recommenced the struggle, and it was only in 1839 that a final treaty of peace was signed in London between Belgium and Holland, and its claims to independence frankly recognised by the Dutch.
Greece, originally invaded by the Turks in the year 1350, remained for nearly five hundred years under their oppressive yoke, rising from time to time against their masters, only to expose their country, on the failure of their attempts, to the greater tyranny and the most dreadful excesses. Over ten thousand Greeks were slaughtered in Cyprus in 1821, while the bombardment of Scio in 1822, and the horrible massacre on its capture, stand out in lurid colours as one of the most atrocious deeds the world has ever known: over forty thousand men, women, and children fell by the sword. Seven thousand who had fled to the mountains were induced to surrender by a promise of amnesty, and these, too, were murdered. The towns and villages were fired, and the unfortunate inhabitants, hemmed in by the Turks, perished in the flames or fell beneath the swords of their relentless foes if they attempted to escape. Small wonder, then, that the heart of Europe was stirred, and that Lord Byron and thousands more took up the cause of Greek independence, by contributions of arms and money, by fiery denunciation, and with strong right hand. Missolonghi, Navarino,
and many another scene of struggle we cannot here dwell upon, suffice it to say that at last the victory was won and Greece emerged, after a tremendous struggle, from the bondage of the Turks, and took its place in Europe as a free and independent nation, the Porte acknowledging the inexorable logic of the fait accompli on April 25th, 1830. After a short Presidency under one of the Greek nobles, Otho of Bavaria was elected King of Greece in 1833, and the new Kingdom was fairly launched.
The Greeks adopted the blue and white, the colours of Bavaria, as a delicate compliment to the Prince who accepted their invitation to ascend the throne of Greece. The merchant flag of Greece is shown in Fig. [233]. It will be seen that it consists of nine stripes, alternately blue and white, the canton being blue, with a white cross in it. The navy flag is similar, except that in addition there is placed a golden crown in the centre of the cross. The Royal Standard is blue with a white cross; the arms of the cross are not, as in Fig. [233], of equal length, but the one next the staff is shorter, as in the Danish flag, Fig. [225]. In the open space at the crossing of the arms is placed the Royal Arms.
The Turkish Empire has undergone many changes and vicissitudes, and has in these latter days shrunk considerably. European Turkey now consists of about seventy thousand square miles, while Turkey in Asia, Syria, Asia Minor, Palestine, Armenia, etc., is over seven hundred thousand.[[78]]
The crescent moon and star, Figs. [239] and [240], were adopted by the Turks as their device on the capture of Constantinople by Mahomet II., in 1453. They were originally the symbol of Diana, the Patroness of Byzantium, and were adopted by the Ottomans as a badge of triumph. Prior to that event, the crescent was a very common charge in the armorial bearings of English Knights, but it fell into considerable disuse when it became the special device of the Mohamedans, though even so late as the year 1464 we find René, Duke of Anjou, founding an Order of Knighthood having as its badge the crescent moon, encircled by a motto signifying "praise by increasing." Though the crescent was, as we have seen, originally a Pagan symbol, it remained throughout the rise and development of the Greek Church the special mark of Constantinople, and even now in Moscow and other Russian cities the