Union Jack

“ There is yet the other ideal phase in which the Union Jack in the outer realms of the Empire and in Canada reigns supreme—that of "liberty to the people." The inborn hope which buds and blossoms in the hearts of a growing people as their energies evolve and their circumstances advance, finds its fruitage in the possession of mastery over their own homes, and thus a nation's desire for liberty is concentrated in the absorbing dream of self-government. ”

“ It is, then, easily seen why Canadians and our brother Britons love their Union Jack. It is the signal of parliamentary government by British constitutional principles. It represents progress and modern ideas—the rule of the people, for the people, by the people, through their unbiased King; and, therefore, it is the evidence of their affectionate and loyal allegiance to that monarchy and system of government under whose benign sway the colonies have advanced, and Canada, above all other countries on the continent of America, is the land of the self-governed and the free. ”

“ The origin of the name "Union Jack" has given rise to considerable conjecture and much interesting surmise; in the proclamation of Charles I., 1634, it is called the "Union Flagge"; in the treaty of peace made with the Dutch in 1674, in the reign of Charles II., it is mentioned as "His Majesty of Great Britain's flag or Jack," and in the proclamation of Queen Anne, in 1707, as "Our Jack, commonly called the Union Jack." ”

“ Truly was this two-crossed Union Jack the flag of Canada and the Canadians, and as truly is its three-crossed successor, our present Union Jack, the native birthright of the sons of its defenders and the successors of those patriot pioneers.
[Pg 140]
CHAPTER XIV. THE IRISH JACK.
The lineage of the Irish Jack is not so clearly defined as is that of the other Jacks. Although "Paddy" has always been so ready for a shindy that fighting has come to be considered his "natural diversion," he has never found himself particularly at home on the sea. ”

“ Although the Union Jack has been built up on the local Jacks of the three island kingdoms, its greatest glories have been won in expeditions sent far across the seas to other lands. The people of the parent isles have never needed to raise it as their signal in driving invaders from their own shores, and in this way it does not bear that added vitality to them which it bears to the resident Canadian, that of being associated with brave defence of home and native land. ”

“ Thus pure, unsullied in its life-story, this three-crossed Union Jack of Canada is the only flag on the continent of America which has always and ever been the "flag of freedom," a flag under which all men, as their birthright, have been born equal and free. ”

“ It required, in fact, something more than a mere union of allegiance to create a real Union Jack, and to entitle the national crosses of the kingdoms to be entered upon its folds; and what this requirement was the history of the entry of the St. Patrick cross into the Union flag enables us to see even yet more clearly.
It will be remembered that a change in the "additional" Jack of James was made in the sixth year of the reign of Queen Anne, and that the occasion of this change was coincident with the union of the separate Parliaments of England and Scotland into one British Parliament. ”

“ Such, then, was the origin of the name Jack, and it is from the combination of the three national "Jacks" of England, Scotland and Ireland, at successive periods in their history, into one flag, that the well-known "Union Jack" of our British nation has gradually grown into its present form. ”

“ The new Union Jack certainly did not represent a union of the nations, else why did the two national Jacks still remain? If it had been intended to represent the fealty of his subjects to their King, why was it not introduced immediately upon his accession, and why was not the red cross of the Irish included as well as the crosses of the English and Scots, for the Irish were equally at the time subjects of James I.?
The Irish had, in fact, been subjects of his predecessors for many centuries. ”

“ Australasia and New Zealand have risen beneath the southern star, India in itself has become an empire, and Africa, youngest born of all the lion's brood, is welding fast another continent beneath the imperial sway.
These are the nations of the Union Jack, the galaxy of parliaments of free men, which have arisen round the centre isles and the throne of Her who, with Her statesmen,
"Knew the seasons when to take Occasion by the hand and make The bounds of freedom wider yet." ”

“ As the spirit of that constitution has been adapted to the local circumstances in each, so the red ensign with its Union Jack, which is the embodiment of the power and glory of the British nation, has been emblazoned with the local fervour of each young and growing people, who, ardently loving their new land, yet stand unconquerably in union with the Motherland, and rejoice at seeing their own emblem set upon the mother flag. Each such flag tells us its grand story in a way that a national flag ought to do ”

“ And the Great Bear rides in his state alone, Afar from the Southern Cross. Our people shall aye be free, They never shall bend the knee, For this is the land of the true and leal, Where freedom is bred in the bone— The Southerner never shall place his heel On the men of the northern zone." [149]
Such was the British patriotism of which the flag was the Union signal, and now another parliamentary union is to be included in the career of the Union Jack in Canada. ”

“ Some jolly Jack-a-Dandy stands upon the roof, at the imminent risk of his neck, and scrapes a fiddle to what, considering the pace of the coach, must have been a tune of the most agonizing description; while an amorous fellow hugs his girl behind. The Union Jack is, of course, in a prominent position, and a riotous, devil-me-care figure sits one of the horses backwards. I do not observe any one of this merry company “heaving the lead overboard,” as became the pleasing fashion among sailor-men flush of money who rode outside the day coaches to town. ”

“ Patrick, but this, in its turn, is given the upper position in the remaining quarters.
The utmost care must, therefore, be taken to see that the Union Jack is correctly raised on the flagstaff, with the broad white of the St. Andrew uppermost.
When the Red Ensign, or any similarly quartered flag, is reversed on the flagstaff—that is to say, displayed with the Union down—it becomes a signal of distress. Union Jacks are often seen hoisted upside down (Pl. VII., fig. 1) . ”

“ Andrew, and began the reign of the first "Union Jack" of the United Kingdoms. Then, too, was first raised the British Union Ensign, the "meteor flag" of the realm, to be worn by all subjects of Britain's Queen, whether on land or on sea, at home or abroad, on merchant ships or on men-of-war, so that wherever the blood-red flag should fly the world would know the nation to which its bearers belonged. ”

“ The Union Jack is a diminutive of the Union. It is exclusively a ship flag, and, although of the same pattern as the Union, it ought never to be called the Union Jack except when it is flown on the jack-staff,—a staff on the bowsprit or fore part of a ship. ”

“ The tri-colour, having never been the flag of his [Pg 29] forefathers, carries neither allegiance nor loyalty to the French Canadian. His people have never fought under it, while many a gallant French Canadian son has poured out his blood for the Union Jack at home in defence of Canada or upon foreign shores in service in the British armies. It has never brought him liberty or protection as has his Union Jack, which has been his British flag for a century and a half, and for more than a quarter of a century before the tri-colour of the European French ever came into existence. ”

“ This third Union Jack flew at Aboukir when Abercrombie drove Napoleon out of Egypt; with it were won the triumphs of Wellington, from Assaye in India, through Badajoz and Spain, to the crowning victory at Waterloo. It was the flag which floated in the "white ensign" on all the ships at Trafalgar, [137] and on the Victory when Nelson sent aloft his British watchword:
"England expects every man will do his duty." ”

“ The gallantry of the French-speaking Britons at Quebec, in 1775, had kept the Union Jack flying above Canadian soil, and to Canada's unbroken forests the English-speaking Loyalists therefore came, [Pg 138] leaving the old colonies because they would have their loved flag once more float above them.
Never does history relate such devoted loyalty to a flag as was shown by this migration of the U. E. Loyalists [72] —men giving up homes, farms, companionship and wealth, and with their wives and little ones following a flag for conscience' sake into an undeveloped and almost unknown land. ”

“ Andrew, being in one colour and above the diagonal in the first and third, and below it in the second and fourth, completes the combined saltire.
By following these directions the making of a Union Jack is much simplified.
That the utmost care should be exercised in the making of our flag is beyond all question. It is the record of our history, the flag of our British nation; to display one in incorrect form is to do dishonour to it, to our history and to our nationality. No patriot would do this intentionally, and yet some may do this ignorantly. ”

“ However, these differences are of no serious importance, and indeed this flag seems doomed to misrepresentation, which extends even to its name. A "Union Jack" is, correctly speaking, a small Union flag intended to be flown in one particular place, the bows of one of H.M. ships: yet for many years past this technical distinction has been lost sight of [212] and the misapplication of the term "Jack" has become almost universal, so much so that we have the Government solemnly announcing that "The Union Jack should be regarded as the national flag [213] ." ”

“ The tide of invasion advanced north against Canada from the United States. For three years, from 1812 to 1815, the contest went on. Our French Canadians again bravely took up their arms, and this time, under the new three-crossed Jack, again drove the United States invaders back, making the names of Chateauguay and Chrystler's Farm ring down through history in token of the victories which they won beneath it in defence of their Canadian liberties and homes. So, too, their English-speaking brothers of Upper Canada won equal victories for this same Union Jack. ”

“ As the colonies developed in native energy so their merchant shipping increased, and in recognition of this advance, and in order that their ports of origin might be made known, all colonial-owned merchant vessels were accorded, in 1889, [190] the right of wearing, together with the red ensign, an additional flag on which might be shown the distinguishing badge or insignia of their colony, similarly as under James I. direction had been given to raise the separate national Jack of England or of Scotland at the same time as [Pg 285] the King's Union Jack. ”

“ Public education in Canada is under the charge of each of the Provincial Governments, and in Manitoba, Ontario, British Columbia and the Maritime Provinces the single Union Jack is the flag which has been instructed to be officially raised daily over the Public Schools. ”

“ All our Merchant Men lower their Topsails below Gravesend to any ship or vessel carrying the King's Jack, be it but a Victualling Hoy [196] .
About this time another form of jack had come into use in the Mediterranean. Its origin is obscure: we first meet with it in some notes of matters to be looked into jotted down by Pepys about 1687: "Quaere, the Practice of wearing Colours in Boats? And the Budgee [197] [70] Jack now familiarly used abroad (as lately by St Loe [198] ) being the Union Jack in a Canton upon a Red Flag." ”

“ As I have explained on many occasions, when you have been good and obliging enough to put the same question to me, I am delighted to have the opportunity. You must know that the Union-Jack represents the greatest nation in the world. ”

“ After a siege of forty days Louisbourg surrendered. In 1748, the fortress was again restored to the fleur-de-lis by the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, but only to be retaken by Wolfe, in 1758, and the Queen Anne Jack, which the United Colonies had before placed above it, was restored and is shown again in the Louisbourg medal, [100] used to commemorate Wolfe's victory (38) .
On yet another field the United Colonists carried the Union Jack. ”

“ Jack thought Earl was against him also because he came over there.
So, he was in the club, and Jack started hollering at him and told him—first of all, it started out as a nice conversation, and Earl is great about quoting you new rules. He knows all of them, and he goes by the book, and especially when he is drinking. That is all he can talk about is union rules. He drives you crazy sometimes. And he was explaining to Jack, Jack said, “You are against me. ”

“ Instead of following in the footsteps of his father and becoming a planter, Jack had sailed the blue water from his earliest boyhood, and was the elder brother of our Union hero, Marcy Gray, who was taken from his home at dead of night by a party of blue-jackets to serve as pilot on 153Captain Benton’s gunboat during the fight at Roanoke Island. Jack was Union all over, and, even when it was dangerous for him to do so, could hardly refrain from expressing his contempt for those who were trying to break up the government. ”

“ This fact is true to-day of the Jack throughout all the British territories, but it has not always been so, and we may, with much interest, trace the condition of the slave under the flag in Great Britain, in the Colonies, in the United States, and in Canada.
It has been the happy lot of the Motherland, the cradle of the liberties of the earth, that freedom has been enjoyed for many centuries upon her own home soil ”