The double-headed eagle of Russia and Austria originated among the Romans, to indicate the sovereignty of the world. When the empire of the Cæsars was divided into the Western and Eastern Empires, this standard continued to be used in both those divisions. From the Eastern Empire it passed into the standard of Russia, on the marriage of Ivan I. with a Grecian princess. From the Western, with the title of Roman Emperor, it passed to Austria.
From the above, we cannot fail to perceive, in the past as well as in the present, the tendency, throughout the world, to imitation, in the adoption of national ensigns; also, that the adoption of a particular ensign marked some epoch in the history of the particular nation which adopted it.
Thus the various changes in the Roman standard marked the epochs of their conquest, first of the Greeks, then of the Barbarians. The adoption of the eagle by the Franks, their conquest of the Romans. The cross, the era of the Crusades. The double-headed eagle of Russia, the marriage of the Czar to the heiress of the Eastern Empire. That of Austria, the investiture of the emperors of Germany with the title of Roman Emperor. The present union of the crosses of St. George, St. Andrew, and St. Patrick, in the British ensign, reverting to the Crusades, in the members composing it, more directly refers to the union, first, of England and Scotland into the united kingdom of Great Britain, and more recently, to the union of the kingdoms of Great Britain and Ireland, and hence is called The Great Union.
The eagle of France, marked her republican era.
Having thus observed, in the adoption of ensigns by the principal nations of the world, the prevalence of certain general rules, viz.: A reference to their deity; the habit of imitating the ensigns of nations from which they sprung, or which they conquered; the custom of marking, by their standards, some epoch in their history; or these customs in combination, may we not expect to find, in the adoption of our National Ensign, that it is not wholly an exception to these general rules?
THE NATIONAL FLAG
OF THE
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.
Adopting these general principles, we find ourselves, in attempting to give a satisfactory account of the origin, adoption, and meaning of the devices embodied in the National Flag of the United States, obliged to describe the principal flags displayed during the Revolution, which resulted in the independence of those States; to give some account of the flags used by the colonists prior to that Revolution; and to notice, though in a cursory manner, the national flag of the mother country.
To facilitate the consideration of our subject, we shall arrange the flags, mention of which we have met with, as displayed during our Revolution, in a table, chronologically; and shall number them, according to the date of the notice of them, 1, 2, 3, 4, &c., beginning in 1774.
In this Table, we shall give their distinguishing devices; noticing them, when necessary, more at length as we proceed.