"The standard has been placed in a frame and under glass for preservation, being much worn and faded. It is about one yard square, and is thus described by the authors cited: 'The standard is of red damask. On the front side is painted a most beautiful figure of the Most Holy Mary, with a crown of gold, and surrounded with twelve stars of gold, her hands joined as if in praying to her Most Holy Son to protect and strengthen the Spaniards in conquering the idolatrous empire to the Catholic faith. The image has a blue mantle and a flesh-colored tunic; the embroidery forming the border is green. On the reverse side are painted the royal arms of Castile and Leon. A more modern damask has been sewed on this side, in framing for preservation, so that the arms cannot be seen.'" 1

During the colonial government, on the anniversary of the surrender of Guatemozin, the 13th of August, 1521, a solemn procession was annually made around the walls of the city, headed by the viceroy, and displaying the venerable standard of the conqueror.2

SAN SALVADOR. By a decree issued in 1865, the national flag and arms of the Republic of San Salvador are as follows:

Article 1. The national flag will consist of five blue and four white stripes, running horizontally; each stripe shall be nine inches in width. and from three to four yards long. At the superior angle, adjoining the staff, there shall be a square on a red ground of one yard each way, in which shall be placed nine white five-pointed stars, to represent the nine departments of the republic.

Article 2. The above-described shall be the merchant flag. The battle-flag shall be of the same design and size, with the difference that the square shall contain the coat of arms of the republic on the converse [obverse], and the nine stars on the reverse.

Article 3. The national coat of arms will be the same as that of the old confederation, with the following modifications, viz.: 1. In place of five volcanoes there shall be but one in eruption. 2. In the space above the volcano there shall appear nine stars, forming a semicircle. 3. At the base, the new flag of the republic shall be represented, running entirely across the shield. 4. The cap of liberty will be placed where the cornucopias meet. 5. The inscription, "15th September, 1821," appear in the centre of the shield, and running across the cap of liberty. 6. Within the circle above the centre of the arms shall be placed the words, "Republic of Salvador, in Central America."

shall

1 Letters, Hon. John W. Foster, Aug. 31, 1878, and Jan. 23, 1879; also Letter, A. Nuñez Ortega, Jan. 17, 1879.

2 Prescott's Conquest of Mexico.

SANDWICH ISLANDS.

-

The flag of the Sandwich Islands has an English jack for a union; and for a field, nine horizontal stripes, white, red, and blue alternately. This flag was given the islanders by the British Government, with an assurance that it would be respected wherever the British flag was acknowledged. The present flag has only eight stripes, the lowest blue stripe being omitted.

The royal standard has no union, but in the centre of the flag a white field, blazoned with the royal arms.

Formerly, the Sandwich Islanders hoisted a white flag on the end of a spear, at each end of the enclosure of their 'puhonas,' or cities of refuge. Whoever entered one of these enclosures, the gates of which were always open, -whatever may have been his offence, it afforded him inviolable sanctuary.

A wag has suggested as an appropriate standard for the Sandwich Islands one having bread-and-butter stripes, with ham stars, on a groundwork of mustard, as a design that would readily suggest its nationality.

THE SOCIETY ISLANDS. The flags of the gods, or the emblems of the Society Islanders, were carried in battle to inspire the combatants with confidence, and their martial banners were hoisted on board. the different fleets, or carried by the bravest warriors in the centre of their armies. These flags were red, white, and black. They also used a flag of truce. A sacred flag was used in their processions, and regarded as an emblem of their duties.

March 17, 1829, Commander J. Laws, R.N., commanding H.B.M. ship Satellite, proposed for the Georgian and Society Islands a flag "red above, white in the middle, and red below," which was adopted as a national flag by the chiefs.1

The present flag of the islands has the French tricolor grafted on this flag as a jack or union, emblematic of the French protectorate established in 1844.

NEW ZEALAND. The flag of these islanders was granted them by British authorities as an emblem of sovereignty and independence. It is a white flag, charged with a red St. George's cross. In the upper left-hand canton formed by this cross there is a blue union, divided by a similar red cross bordered with white, and each of its blue quarters has a five-pointed white star in its centre.

When this flag was given to the chiefs at the Bay of Islands, they 1 Ellis's Polynesian Researches.

were assembled, and told that as long as it was allowed to fly they were free and independent, but as soon as the flag of any other power was flown in its stead, they would be no longer free, but slaves. In 1844, fearing the French might take possession of the islands, the English hoisted their own ensign at the Bay of Islands, and the act led to a war between them and the natives, which lasted several years.

PERU.Prescott, referring to Gomara, Sarmiento, and Velasco, as his authority for the statement, says that in the Inca army each company had its particular banner, and that the imperial standard, high above all, displayed the glittering device of the rainbow, the armorial ensign of the Incas, intimating their claims as children of the skies.1 The modern Peruvian flag and standard is composed of two red and one perpendicular white stripe, the centre of the white stripe bearing the arms of the republic. The colors, red and white alternate, are said to have been suggested by the red and white feathers which were conspicuous ornaments of the head-dress or coronets of the ancient Incas.

THE STANDARDS AND FLAGS OF EUROPEAN STATES. ITALY, DENMARK, SPAIN, AUSTRIA, GERMANY, RUSSIA, BELGIUM, GREECE, HOLLAND, PORTUGAL, SWEDEN AND NORWAY.

ITALIAN STANDARDS. - About A.D. 1040, the Italians, who borrowed the idea from the Persians, who borrowed it from the Egyptians, invented, at Milan, the carriocium, or car standard, which was introduced into France about A.D. 1100. This pompous and cumbrous standard of the Italians consisted of a 'banner royal' fastened to the top of a mast or small tree, which was planted on a scaffold and borne by a chariot drawn by oxen covered with velvet housings, decorated with the devices or cipher of the prince. At the foot of the mast stood a priest, who said mass early every morning. Ten knights kept guard on the scaffold day and night, and as many trumpeters at its foot never ceased flourishing, to animate the troops. This cumbrous machine continued in use one hundred and thirty years. Its post was the centre of the army; and the greatest feats of daring were in attacks upon it, and in its defence. No victory was considered complete, and no army reputed vanquished, until it had lost its standard.

1 Prescott's Conquest of Peru.

Alviano, the great champion of the Orsini family, when he took the city of Vitebro, caused to be embroidered on his standard a unicorn at a fountain surrounded by snakes, toads, and other reptiles, and stirring the water with his horn before he drinks: motto, "Venana pello,"-"I expel poisons," - alluding to the property of detecting poison assigned to the horn of the unicorn. This standard was lost on the fatal day of Vicenza. Marc Antonio Monte, who carried it, being mortally wounded, kept the tattered remnant clasped in his arms, and never loosed his grasp until he fell dead on the field.

The Marquis of Pescara's standard at the battle of Ravenna had for device a Spartan shield, with the injunction of the Spartan mother to her son before the battle of Mantinea for a motto, "Aut cum hoc, aut in hoc," "Either with this, or on it." Pescara is buried in the church of Domenico Maggiore at Naples. Above his tomb hangs his torn banner, and a plain short sword, surrendered to him by Francis I., at Pavia.

The ensign of the Roman family of Colonna is a silver column, with base and capital of gold, surmounted by a golden crown, the grant of the Emperor Louis of Bavaria, in acknowledgment of services rendered by Stefano Colonna, who, when chief senator of Rome, crowned Louis in the Capitol contrary to the wishes of the Pope.1

The royal standard of the present kingdom of Italy is a square white flag bordered with blue, and has blazoned on the centre of its field the arms of Savoy, a cross argent on a red (gules) shield, surmounted by a regal crown, supported by an ermine mantle and by trophies of national flags.

The man-of-war flag of the United Kingdom of Italy is composed of equal green, red, and white vertical stripes, the green next the staff, the centre or white stripe being charged with the royal arms and crown. The merchant flag is the same, except that on it the crown is omitted.

The origin of the Savoy arms is this: In 1309, Filles de Villaret, grand master of the Knights Hospitallers of St. John, defended the Island of Rhodes against the Soldan, with the assistance of the Duke of Savoy, to whom, in gratitude for his timely help, they granted the badge of their order, a white cross on a red shield.2

THE MAGIC STANDARD OF DENMARK.

The banner of Denmark, taken from the Danes by Alfred the Great, was a famous magical

1 Bury's Historic War Cries and Devices.

2 Hospinan de Orig. Monach, lib. v. p. 333.

standard. According to Sir John Spelman, it had for a device the image of a raven magically wrought by three sisters, Hungar and Hubba, on purpose for the expedition, in revenge of their father Lodebrock's murder. It was made, said the sisters, in an instant, being begun and finished in a noontide. The raven has been regarded from very early ages as an emblem of God's providence,- probably from the record in Holy Writ of its being employed to feed Elijah in his seclusion by the brook of Cherith. The Danes believed it carried great fatality with it, and therefore it was highly esteemed by them. They believed that when carried in battle towards good success, the raven would clap his wings, or make as if it would. That the raven was their standard is confirmed by the figure of that bird on the coins of Aulef, the Danish King of Northumberland.

The embroidery of flags afforded occupation and amusement to the ladies of the Middle Ages; thence their value became enhanced, and it was highly shameful for a knight not to defend to the death what his mistress's hands had wrought.

When Waldemar II., of Denmark, was engaged in a great battle with the Livonians in the year A.D. 1219, it is said that a sacred banner fell from heaven into the midst of the army, and so revived the courage of his troops that they gained a complete victory over the Livonians. In memory of the event, Waldemar instituted an order of knighthood, called 'St. Dannebrog,' or 'the strength of the Danes,' which is the principal order of knighthood in Denmark. The truth appears to be, that King Waldemar, observing his men giving ground to the enemy, who had beaten down his standard, which bore an eagle, raised up a consecrated banner or silver cross, which had been sent him by the Pope, and under it rallied his troops, and ultimately gained the victory. This achievement caused the people to believe that the banner had been sent from heaven.1

The present royal standard of Denmark and man-of-war ensign and admiral's flag are red swallow-tailed flags, with a white cross, the colors of Savoy. On the standard, the cross is quadrate and charged with the royal achievements, the shield being encircled with the collars of the orders of the Elephant and Dannebrog. The quadrate of the cross in the admiral's flag is blazoned with an oval shield, azure, bearing three golden crowns, surrounded by a border of gold, the whole encircled with a wreath of laurel. The flag for merchant ships is a square red flag with a white cross.

1 Newton's Display of Heraldry. London, 1846.