History of the Union Jack and Flags of the Empire. Barlow Cumberland
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CHAPTER I.
EMBLEMS AND FLAGS.
There is an instinct in the human race which delights in the flying of flags—a sentiment which appears to be inborn, causing men to become enthusiastic about a significant emblem raised in the air, whether as the insignia of descent, or as a symbol of race, or of nationality; something which, being held aloft before the sight of other men, declares, at a glance, the side to which the bearer belongs, and serves as a rallying point for those who think with him.
The child chortles at a piece of riband waved before him; a boy marches with head erect and martial stride as bearer of the banner at the head of his mimic battalion; the man, at duty's call, rallies to his national standard, and leaving home and all, stakes his life for it in his country's cause; and when the battle of life is closing and steps are homeward bound, the gray-beard, lifting his heart-filled eyes, blesses the day that brings him back within sight of his native flag.
At all ages and in all times has it been the same. The deeper we go into the records of the past the more evidence do we find that man, however varied his race or primitive his condition, however cultured his surroundings or rude his methods, has universally displayed this innate characteristic instinct of delighting and glorifying in some personal or national emblem.
To search for and discover the emblems which they bore thus discloses to us the eras of a people's history, and, therefore, it is that the study of a nation's flag is something more than a mere passing interest, and becomes one of real educational value, meriting our closest investigation, for the study of Flags is really the tracing of History by sight.
In ancient Africa, explorations among the sculptured antiquities on the Nile have brought to light a series of national and religious emblem-standards, which had meaning and use among the Egyptians long before history had a written record. The fans and hieroglyphic standards of the Pharaohs are the index to their dynasties.
The Israelites, at the time of the Exodus, had their distinctive emblems, and in the Book of Numbers (ch. ii. 2), it is related how Moses directed that in their journeyings, "Every man of the children of Israel shall pitch by his own standard, with the ensign of their father's house."
So it came that to every Jewish child, in all the subsequent centuries, the emblem on the standard of his tribe recalled the history and the trials of his ancestors and fortified his faith in the God of their Deliverance.
From the lost cities of Nineveh have been unearthed the ensign of the great Assyrian race, the "Twin Bull" (1), sign of their imperial might, and the records of their warriors are thus identified.
1. Assyrian Emblems.
In Europe in later times there were few parts of the continent which did not become acquainted with the metal ensigns of the great Roman Empire. The formidable Legions of their armies, issuing from the centre of the realm, carried the Imperial Eagle at their head, and setting it in triumph over many a subjugated state, established its supremacy among the peoples as a sign of the all-conquering power of their mighty Empire. To this eagle of the Roman legions may be traced back the crop of eagle emblems (2), which are borne by so many of the nationalities of Europe at the present day. The golden eagle of the French battalions, the black eagle of Prussia, the white eagle of Poland, and the double-headed eagles of Austria and Russia, whose two heads typify claim to sovereignty over both the ancient Eastern and Western sections of the Roman Empire, are all descendants from the Imperial Eagle of ancient Rome.
2. Eagle Emblems.
| Austrian. | Roman. | Russian. |
| Prussian. | French. |
As these nationalities of modern Europe have successively arisen and developed into their separate existence, the emblem of their ancient subjugation has been raised by them as the emblem of their power, just as the Cross, which was once the emblem of the degradation and death of the Christ, has been accepted as the signal and glory of the nations which have come under the Christian sway.
As on the Eastern, so also on the Western hemisphere. On all continents the rainbow in the heavens is a perpetual memorial of the covenant made between God and man—the sign that behind the wonders of nature dwells the still more wonderful First Cause and Author of them all. The Peruvians, far back in the centuries of existence on the continent of South America, had preserved a tradition of a great event which, although it had taken place on another hemisphere, yet had been, by some means, transmitted to theirs, and, tracing from it the story of their national origin, they carried this emblem as sign of the lineage which they claimed as being, as they called themselves, "The Children of the Skies." Thus it was that under the standard of a "Rainbow" the armies of the Incas of Peru valiantly resisted the invasions of Pizzaro when, in the sixteenth century, the South American Continent came under the domination of Spain.
3. Tortoise Totem.
National emblems were borne farther north on the Northern continent by another nation, even yet more ancient than the Peruvians. Embedded in the ruins of buried cities of the Aztecs, in Mexico, are found the memorials of a constructive and artistic people, whose emblem of the "Eagle with outstretched wings," repeated with patriotic iteration in the stone carvings of their buildings, has thus come down to us the mute declarant of their national aspirations. The nation itself as a power has long since passed away, but the outlines of their emblem still preserve the ideals of the vanished race.
A living instance of much interest also evidences the adherence to national emblems among the earlier inhabitants of North America. Long before the invading Europeans first landed on the shores of the North Atlantic coasts, the nomad Red Indian, as he travelled from place to place through the fastnesses of the forests, along the shores of the great lakes, over the plains of vast central prairies, or amid the mountains that crown the Pacific slope, everywhere attested the story of his descent by the "Totem" of his family. This sign of the Tortoise (3), the Wolf (4), the Bear, or the Fish, painted or embroidered on his trappings or carved upon his weapons, was displayed as evidence of his origin, and whether he came as a friend or advanced as a foe, its presence nerved him to maintain the reputation of his family and the honour of his tribe.
4. Wolf Totem.
To-day the Red Man slowly yields to the ever-advancing march of the dominant and civilizing white; his means of sustenance by the chase, or of livelihood by his skill as a trapper, have been destroyed. The Indian tribes are, under the Indian treaties, required to remain within large blocks of territory called "Reserves," so that now in his poverty he is maintained upon these "reservations" solely by the dole of the peoples by whom his native country has been absorbed; yet, though so changed in their circumstances, his descendants still cling with resolute fortitude and pathetic eagerness to these ancient insignia of their native worth. These rudely-formed emblems, in outline and shape mainly taken from the animals and birds of the plain and forest, are the memorials in his decadence of the long past days when his forefathers were the undisputed monarchs of all the wilds and possessors of its widest domains. They are the Indian patents of nobility, and thus are clung to with all the pride of ancient race.
This Instinct in man to attach a national meaning to some vital emblem, and to display it as evidence of his patriotic fervour, is thus found to be all-pervading. The accuracy of its form may not be exact—it may, indeed, be well-nigh indistinguishable