Frederick Edward Hulme

“ We are the sons of the men who won us this goodly heritage, and it behoves us in turn to hand it on to our descendants in undiminished dignity, a world-wide domain beneath the glorious Union Flag that binds all in one great brotherhood. ”

“ The British Empire—the Greater Britain across the seas, some eighty times larger in area than the home islands of its birth—must now engage our attention. Its material greatness is amazing, far exceeding that of any other empire the world has ever seen, and its moral greatness is equal to its material. Wherever the flag of Britain flies, there is settled law, property is protected, religion is free ”

“ And should the day ever come when we as a people are tempted to succumb to sloth and luxury, first to undervalue, and finally to give up, national power and privileges which are an heritage from God, and have been dearly purchased by those who went before us—may these emblems, and the stirring memories that cling to them, help us in some degree to wake up the last drop of blood left in our hearts, and nerve us to bear ourselves like the children of our sires. ”

“ We regard the Colonies as integral parts of the Empire, and our warmest sympathies are with our brethren beyond the seas, who are no less dear to us than if they dwelt in Surrey or Kent. Mutual interests, as well as ties of affection, unite us as one people, and so long as we hold together we are unassailable from without. From a commercial point of view, the Colonies and India are among the best customers for home manufacturers, it being computed that no less than one-third of the total exports are absorbed by them. ”

“ In these days the material side of the profession of arms is much insisted upon, but I tell you that an army without something higher than that, however well cared for in other respects, is a bad army, and that when thoughtfulness and care for the good name of a regiment is sacrificed for selfish, individual advancement, the regiment, as a whole, will suffer. The spirit which animated the regiments of the British Army—who placed those names, of which we are so proud to-day, on those colours—was, duty first, self afterwards ”

“ As Professor Seeley remarks in his very interesting work, 'The Expansion of England,' 'Englishmen in all parts of the world remember that they are of one blood and one religion; that they have one history, and one language and literature.' We are, in fact, a vast English nation, and we should take great care not to allow the emigrants who have gone forth from among us to imagine that they have in the slightest degree ceased to belong to the same community as ourselves. ”

“ A power to which Rome in the height of her glory is not to be compared—a power which has dotted over the surface of the whole globe her possessions and military posts, whose morning drum-beat, following the sun, and keeping company with the hours, circles the earth with one continuous and unbroken strain of the martial airs of England. ”

“ In the one case there are the hopes and dangers of the future, while in the other the hopes have all been abundantly realised, the dangers triumphantly passed, as the tattered colours—storm tossed, torn by shot and shell—are borne in honour to their last resting place, where, strife for ever over, they rest in peace in the Sanctuary of God, a memorial to all men, until their last shreds fall to decay, of duty nobly and fully done. ”

“ The first is composed of those nations who, coming somewhat late into the field, find that Great Britain has some of the best plots already marked out. To those nations I will say that they must remember that our Colonies were taken—to use a well-known expression—at prairie value, and that we have made them what they are. We may claim that whatever lands other nations may have touched and rejected, and we have cultivated and improved, are fairly parts of our Empire, which we may claim to possess by an indisputable title. ”

“ We in turn might well in our systems of education give a larger space to the history, laws, and literature of our great Empire, taking a more comprehensive view than is now ordinarily the case, studying the growth of the mighty States that have sprung into existence through British energy, and attaching at least as much importance to the lives of the men who have built up this goodly heritage as to the culinary shortcomings of Alfred or the schemes of Perkin Warbeck. ”

“ In the device of the Leeward Isles, designed by Sir Benjamin Pine, a large pine-apple is growing in the foreground, and three smaller ones away to the right. It is jocularly assumed that the centre one was Sir Benjamin himself, and the three subordinate ones his family.
With Great Britain the command of the ocean is all-important. By our sea-power our great Empire has been built up, and by it alone can it endure. ”

“ They offer happy and prosperous homes to thousands who are unable to gain a livelihood within the narrow limits of these islands, owing to the pressure of over-population and consequent over-competition. In transplanting themselves to our own Colonies, instead of to foreign lands, they retain their privileges as citizens of this great Empire, and live under the same flag as subjects of the same Sovereign. ”

“ Nor can we help specially remembering that these are the colours of our Scottish regiments. Scotland is a poor country compared to the great neighbour with whom it is happily united, but it possesses a distinct national life of its own which all true Scotchmen would not willingly let die. We are proud of our Scotch regiments. We feel that they, of the whole army, belong especially to ourselves ”

“ Newfoundland was the earliest British colony, the settlement being made about the year 1500. Many of our colonies have been thus created by peaceful settlement, while others have fallen to us in victorious fights with France, Holland, Spain, and other Powers, or have been ceded by treaty.
The flags of our colonies are those of the Empire, with, in some cases, special modifications. In all our colonies, for instance, the Royal Standard, as we see it in England, is displayed on the fortresses on the anniversaries of the birth and coronation of the Sovereign. ”

“ The presentation of colours to a regiment is always an imposing ceremony, as with prayer of consecration, martial music, and stirring address they are delivered into its custody, but the bestowal of the old colours in some honoured place of safe keeping is yet more impressive. ”

“ Besides these club ensigns and burgees, each yacht bears its owner's individual device, that is supposed to distinguish it from all others, though one finds, in looking through a series of such flags, that some of the simpler devices are borne by more than one yacht. Every yacht club has its special burgee, which is flown by each yacht in the club at her truck, but when the vessel is racing the individual flag takes its place. ”

“ The Governor-General of Canada has in the centre of his flag the arms of the Dominion, while the Lieutenant-Governors of Quebec, Ontario, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Manitoba, British Columbia, and Prince Edward's Island have in the centre of their flags the arms of their province alone. These arms in each case are placed on a shield within a white circle, and surrounded by a wreath. The Admiralty requirements are that the Colonial badge on the governor's flag should be placed within a "green garland," and this is understood to be of laurel ”

“ The vessels of the Mercantile Marine registered as belonging to any of the Colonies, fly the red ensign without any distinguishing badge, so that a Victorian or Canadian merchantman coming up the Thames or Mersey would probably fly a flag in all respects similar (Fig. 97) to that of a merchant vessel owned in the United Kingdom. There is, however, no objection to colonial merchant vessels carrying distinctive flags with the badge of the Colony thereon, in addition to the red ensign, provided that the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty give their warrant of authorization. ”

“ But there is another ground on which the extension of our Empire is greatly attacked, and the attack comes from a quarter nearer home. It is said that our Empire is already large enough, and does not need extension. That would be true enough if the world were elastic, but, unfortunately, it is not elastic, and we are engaged at the present moment, in the language of mining, in 'pegging out claims for the future.' We have to consider not what we want now, but what we shall want in the future. ”

“ The flag of the Admiralty is a very striking one (Fig. 99) . This association of the anchor with the Admiralty is a very natural one; we see it not only in our English flag, but in those of France, Italy, Germany, Russia, etc. Our Admiralty flag is hoisted on any ship when the Commissioners of the Admiralty are on board, [9] and it is also hoisted at the fore top-gallant mast of every ship on which the Queen may be on board. Vessels carrying Her Majesty's mail fly on the fore-mast a white burgee, having in its centre a crown, and on one side of it the word "Royal" and on the other "Mail" ”

“ The 24th Regiment, now in the territorial arrangement in vogue known as the 2nd Warwickshire, was first formed in the year 1689. In 1776 it embarked for Canada and greatly distinguished itself in the American struggle. In 1801 we find it in Egypt, where by its gallantry it won the right to bear the Sphinx. [2] From 1805 to 1810 it was fighting its way along at the Cape of Good Hope, and then went on to India. In 1829 we find it sent off to Canada again to suppress rebellion, and it did not return to England till 1841. ”

“ The badges of the various Colonies of the Empire, as shown in the official flag-book of the Admiralty, are very diverse in appearance; some pleasing and others less charming, perhaps, than fantastic. It is needless to particularise them all. Some, like those of Mauritius, Jamaica, and of Cape Colony (Fig. 127) are heraldic in character, while others—as Barbadoes, where Britannia rides the waves in a chariot drawn by sea-horses, or South Australia, where Britannia lands on a rocky shore on which a black man is seated—are symbolical. Queensland has the simple and pleasing device we see in Fig. ”

“ Protected by the Pax Britannica dwell four hundred millions out of every race under heaven, the Mother of Nations extending to Jew, Parsee, Arab, Chinese, Blackfoot, Maori, the liberties that were won at Runnymead and in many another stern fight for life and freedom. In every school-room in the United States hangs the flag of their Union, the Stars and Stripes ”

“ We have to consider what countries must be developed, either by ourselves or some other nation, and we have to remember that it is part of our responsibility and heritage to take care that the world, as far as it can be moulded by us, shall receive an 'English-speaking' complexion, and not that of another nation. ”

“ We have to look forward beyond the chatter of platforms, and the passions of party, to the future of the race of which we are at present the trustees, and we should, in my opinion, grossly fail in the task that has been laid upon us did we shrink from responsibilities, and decline to take our share in a partition of the world which we have not forced on, but which has been forced upon us. ”

“ On some of our coins the colours of the arms in the shield are thus expressed, and on heraldic book-plates and the like they may be also seen—wherever, in fact, colour has to be expressed or notified without the actual use of it. Our readers will find that if they will sketch out in black and white some few of our examples they will soon gain a useful facility that may stand them in good stead whenever for this or any other purpose they want to make a colour memorandum, and have only a pencil or pen and ink to make it with. ”

“ In 1804 a second battalion was added to the regiment. This only existed ten years, but in that time it earned by its distinguished bravery the names of the Peninsula battles for the flag, [3] and at the conclusion of the struggle it was so weak in numbers that it was disembodied. In 1858 a new second battalion was formed, and did good service in Burmah, South Africa, etc. Both battalions were in Zululand in 1879, and with the exception of one hundred men detailed for special duty, the regiment, save nine men, was wiped out of existence in the fatal field of Isandhlwana. ”