History Of Our Flag

The hlstory of our glorious old flag i of exceedinjf Interest, and brings back o uii a ilirniii! of sncifd and thrilllntf mso, itttions. The hunner of St. Andreiv wks blue, rlinifd willi a whil all ier or crosi n tlie fonn af the letter X, and wa used in ScotlHiid as early as lbo elavantli eenlury. The bumier of .St. Gorjje was white, charyed witU the red ero, and wat used in Enjjland ¦) emly as the liist pari w the fuurteenth century. By royal proclamatiou, diited April 1-, 1700, these two crosses were jolned together upon the same banuer, fortuin the aucient natioiiHl il.ig of Ënglaml. Il was not muil Iroltiiid, in lbOl, was made a pari of Oreftt . Brituiu, that the present national fiíig of Kujiland, so wcll knowu as the Uuïou Jack, was corupleted. But t was the anduut tl t r of Kiil.mil tliat i-onstitnted the babis of our American banner. Various other llajfs liad Indted been raised at other time by our colonial aucestpra. 'But tbey uure not particnlarly assoclated witli, or, at least, Were not Incorporated iDto mul made a part of the destlned "Stjrs and Strlpes." It was after Washington hail taken comtiiand of tlie Ilist aCuiy of the Kevolution, at Cambridge, that he unfolded befftre thetn tlie new fli of thitteeu strlpes of altérnate red and white ero.-ses ot St. Geoijft andfjt. Andrew, on a HeW ot blue. Aml thls wan tlie standard whieh was tiornc i uto ltottton wIiimi it was evaenátecl by the Britlnh troops mul wna entered by tlie American army. Unitmr, hB it (lid, thu flags of'Enjrland and America, it showed ttiat the colonIsts were not yet pre ared to sever the tio that hiuuid them to the mothereoui - tiv Hy that unión of ll.iys, they cliiimed to be a vital and stibstantUI puit ot tlie empire of (reat llritain, and demandad the rights and privileges whl h guch n relaüon implied. Vet it was by ütmp thirteeii tripes tUat tbey mui e knowu the nnion also of the thirteen colon es, the stripes of white ilcciarintr the pnrity and Innocencc ut tlieir caiwe, and the si lipes of red jfiviiiif fortU dcfiance to eruelty and opi)oiition. On the 14th day of June, 1779, it waa resolved by Cunareis, "That Ihe tla{ of the tliirtcen Ui.ited States be thirteen strlpes, al ernatered and white.aoj theL'niou t h ir - teen white stars in the blue tluld." Tliii rt'gnlution :is mude public September ;i 1777, and the iUg thal wis tint made anti Uaeq in purmance of it wm that liioh 1 d the Amei ie lus to victory at Saratoya. Here the tliii leen tUr were inaii!{ed in a ei iele, as we sometuue su-e them uow , In order better to expresa the uniou t the States, In 1704, there hayln been two uioie new States added to the Union, it wa voted that the altérnate stripe, as well as thecirclhig stars, be fitteen In nuniber, and the fiajt, as tlius altered and elilarjeed, was the une whlch W;3 borne tluouuh h 11 fhe eontefts of the war of 1812. But it wa thoujiht tüat tbe il wonld it letljfth Weome toó laifíe it a newstre should be added with every freshly n'. mltted State. It wás therefore eiiHCted, in 1S18, that a perrrtanent return sluml.l be made to the original number of tlurtt ripeo, and that the nuniber of stars should henceforth correppond to the growlng nunibcr of State". Thus the tlajr would synjbolize the Union as It ntiht be at any fiven period of its history. lid iilso a it wan at the very hour of its blrth It was at the same time sugested that these stars, insteail of hein;; arranged in a circle, should be foruied into a Ringle stat - a sii({íe8tion which we ocípasioniilly fee adopted. In fine, tío particular order peems nnw to be observed with resect to the arrangement of the conptellation. It is enoiigli If only the whrtle number be there npon that nzure field - the b'ue to be eniblematlenl of perseverance. vijillanee and jiistlce, each star to signify lhe íflory of the State It may represent, nnd the wtiole to be iloqiient forever of ii Union that must b3 '"One and Inserer ahlo." AVhat prerioiis nsroclatlons cl u-ter around our flat;! Not alone have our fftthers set up thls banner in the name of God over the well-won battle-fields of the Revolutlon. and over the cities and townn whieh they reiciiel from 1"epotlc rule; lint Hili'ik tttwn tl.ri, deseendandants have carried it. mul raieed it in compleet or protectiou ! ThioURh what cloudg of dust and mioke has it passed - what x'orms ot sht and heil - what scènes of lire and hlood ! Xot only at;Saia'ora, at M n-i o ith and at Yoikti'wn, but at Lunify's Lape aml Xew Orleans, Buena Vista and Clmpulteprc. It is the same florions old ñ(r which, inscribed with the ilyinp words of Lawrence, 'Don't slve up the ship," wns hoisted on Ltke Erie by Commodore Perry just on the eve of hls great -naval victory- the same old (li; which our frreat chieftain hore in triumph to the proud city of the Azteca, and planted upon the heiphts of lier nationnl palace. Hruve hniii) raised it above the eternal reijions of ice in the Artic sess, and have set it up on the summlts of the lofty mountains of the dNtant Wet. Wliere has it not pone, the pride of i's friends and the terrors of its toes ! What countries and what scan has it not visited ? Where ha not the American elttaen been able to stand beneath lts guardián folda and dufy the World With what joy and exultation the seainen and tourlsts have irnzed upon its sta rs and stripei, rend t 'n tfie lilstorv of tlicir nation's i;lory, receiveil from It the Inspiration? of piitrlotfsm ! Ry t, how many have sworh fealty to tlii-ir cou'ittry ! What bur-ts of maL'xitioent loiieiice it ha cal led forth trom Webrter and from Kverett ! What lyric ftrain of poetry from Drake and Holmo ! H' w niany héroes its folds have covered in death I How many have lived (or it, ai d how many died for It! How niany, living and dyinif, have said. in thelr etithu!lastlc devotion to itg lionor, llke thi t young woundi d sufferer in the streets ot Baltimore, "Oh the flae! tlje Htari and StripcH!" nd, whrever the riajr h i gone, it has rnen the herald of better dav- it has been the pleitte of freedim, ofjustlce, of order, of civilization, and o Christianity. Tyrants only have lmfel it, and the enemies of mankind alone have trampled It to the earth. All who iigh for the triumph of trufli and rl{lr eousness love and salute it.