FLAG 



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FLAG 



Colonial Flags. The Union Jack is the 

 proper flag to fly on the Parliament and legis- 

 lative buildings of British dominions. It is 

 also the proper flag for schools. The Domin- 

 ion of Canada, the Commonwealth of Aus- 

 tralia, New Zealand, and the Union of South 

 Africa all have a special national flag, which 

 is the red or blue ensign with the proper 



"shall wear a red ensign free from any badge or 

 distinctive mark .... Colonial merchant 

 vessels shall wear the red ensign as above, except 

 those of Canada, Australia, New Zealand and 



FLAG OF THE DOMINION OF CANADA 



colonial arms in the fly. The Canadian flag, 

 therefore, is the red ensign with the Canadian 

 coat-of-arms displayed in the center of the 

 fly. The red ensign is used at the opening 

 and closing of Parliament and on national 

 occasions of any sort. As in Great Britain, 

 the blue ensign is used only on government 

 vessels, except that the Indian Marine flies the 

 blue ensign with the Star of India in the fly. 

 All other ships and vessels belonging to His 

 Majesty's subjects 



FLAG OF THE GOVERNOR-GENERAL 

 OF CANADA 



South Africa, which may by Admiralty warrant 

 wear the red ensign with the badge [that is, the 

 coat-of-arms] of the colony in the fly thereof. 

 Any colonial merchant vessel may, however, carry 

 a distinguishing flag with the badge of the colony 

 thereon, in addition to the red ensign." 



Flags of European Countries 



The national flags of the principal European 

 countries are shown on the accompanying 

 color plate, THE FLAGS OF EUROPE. It is not 

 necessary, therefore, to give more than a few 

 words of explanation to each flag. In every 

 case the flag shown is the national flag, and 

 is that used by the merchant marine. The 

 navies and the rulers of these countries have 

 special flags which need not be described here. 



Austria-Hungary. The Austrian flag has 

 three broad horizontal bars, one white between 

 two red; the Hungarian flag has the same 

 design but the colors are red, white and green. 

 For this reason the lower bar of the Austro- 

 Hungarian ensign is half red and half green. 

 The arms on the flag are those of Austria, at 

 the left, and Hungary, at the right. 



Belgium. This is one of the many nations 

 which flies a tricolored flag, the black, yellow 

 and red being the ancient colors of the prin- 

 cipality of- Brabant. With the royal arms in 

 the center a golden lion on a black shield 

 the flag becomes the royal standard. 



Denmark. The Danish flag is the oldest 

 now in use. The story goes that in 1219 the 

 great king Waldemar II was treacherously 

 attacked in his camp, and his own life and 

 his army were only saved by a miracle. At a 

 critical moment the king saw descending from 

 Heaven a red banner with a white cross on it. 

 With this flag at their head the Danes fought 

 on to victory, and it has ever since been the 

 emblem of Denmark. 



France. The French flag dates from 1789, 

 the year of the French Revolution. The tri- 

 colour, as it is popularly called, combines blue 

 and red, the colors of the city of Paris, with 

 the white of the royal house of Bourbon. The 

 addition of the white was the suggestion of the 

 Marquis de Lafayette, gratefully remembered 

 for his part in the American Revolution. 



Germany. The German flag, three hori- 

 zontal bars of black, white and red, dates from 

 the formation of the North German Confedera- 

 tion in 1867, and remained unchanged on the 

 foundation of the German Empire in 1871. It 



