272 



The Correct Arms of the State of New York. 



ory, to truce the origin of noble and ancient houses, to distinguish 

 the many branches descending from the same stock; to show the 

 several degrees of relationsliip in which one family stands to another, 

 and to ascertain by tlie blazonry of the proper coat, how each is de- 

 scended, or connected by marriage or alliance."* 



The main object of heraldry differs greatly from the object of State 

 emblems or Arms. Heraldry is for coat armor, to distinguish indi- 

 dividuals; other devices are for the purpose of distinguishing societies 

 and States. 



The great object of heraldry has been, by means of othcers ad hoc, 

 to control the entrance of persons into the ranks of the nobility, and 

 to trace by means of marks, upon armor, banners and the like, rela- 

 tionship of individuals. It extended to monarchies in Europe, because 

 the kings themselves had their own coat armor. 



In our American States we have no family history to recognize by 

 coats of Arms. We call the device which we create, to be the S3^m- 

 bol of a State, the Arms of the State, for the convenience of using a 

 word derived from heraldry, because readily understood in its applica- 

 tion, descended as we are from the western people of Europe ; to some 

 extent we use the terms of heraldry as furnishing words by which we 

 can render intelligible our ideas; and on account of their agreeable 

 associations, we also preserve the outward forms of a science or art 

 five hundred y^ars old, such as the shield, crest and supporters. And 

 in many of our States if as a matter of taste there had been greatei 

 conformity to the principles of heraldry, the impression on the minds 

 of the people who acknowledge those Arms- would have been more 

 elevating. 



Still our State Arms do not perpetuate the history of the rights or 

 rank of individuals, or of conquered States. They are a symbol 

 established by law, of which one part is as essential as the other. If in 

 heraldry the shield alone is the Arms, and the rest may be pronoun- 

 ced ornamentation, whether ornamentation by authority, or without 

 authority, the same cannot be said of the Arms of the American 

 States. It is the whole device which constitutes their Arms. It is to 

 such insignia we may apply the language used in the treatise pub- 

 lished in 1592, by Sir William Wyrley. 



Without such tokens nor so much as any commonwealth 



whatsoever can be defended, neither from outward enemies, civil dis- 

 cord, or the rebellion of any plebeian rout." f 



The Arms of all States, those of Europe and Asia, are not mere 

 coat armor: they are insignia which are regarded by their people as one 

 *Banks' Dugdale, Lond., 1811, fo. 



f Quoted in Dugdale's Ancient Usage of Arms, 1683. - 



