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CHAPTER VII: Patrick
The third cross is that of St. Patrick of Ireland. These three crosses form the "Union Jack."
But this "Union Jack" considers itself as a badly treated banner, and in an English newspaper a few years ago sighed out the following lament: - PITY POOR JACK.
SIR: - I am not a grumbler, though I am treated very badly. How, sir, may I ask, would you like to be hung up by your heels? or how would any of your readers like to stand on their heads for a week together? And yet I, who am, with the exception of my cousin, the Standard, the most noble bit of bunting in the world, am, even in the loyal county of Hertford, constantly displayed upside down, and am thus turned from a symbol of rejoicing into a signal of distress, and all because the descendants of those who marched and sailed under me to victory will not take the trouble to find out how I ought to be hoisted.
But, sir, I should probably have gone on and suffered in silence, if I had not come across the following paragraph in your paper of November 16: "Mr. - had two Union Jacks-the red and the white." How, sir, could you, being a blue, mistake my children, the ensigns, for me? I will, therefore, give a short sketch of my history. Long before I was known to the world as Jack, I was the banner of St. George. I was a white flag with a red cross; thus I flew at Agincourt; thus I appear at coronations and a few other state occasions; and thus I denote the presence of an English Admiral.
In 1606, the Banner of St. Andrew - Azure; a Saltire Argent (blue, with white diagonal cross) was united to that of St. George by virtue of a royal ordinance given on April 12, 4 Jac. I. Heralds thus described me then:- "The Cross of St. Andrew, surmounted by that of St. George, the latter fimbriated argent" (i.e., bordered white).
I continued in this state until the 1st January, 1801, when upon the Union with Ireland it became necessary to incorporate the Cross of St. Patrick - Argent; a Saltire gules (white, a red diagonal cross); and I am thus described in a royal proclamation of that date: - "Azure; the crosses saltire of Saint Andrew and Saint Patrick, quarterly per saltire, counterchanged argent and gules; the latter fimbriated, and the second surmounted by the cross of Saint George, of the third, fimbriated as the saltire."
In 1606, the heralds departed from their own rules in forming me. Instead of quartering my two crosses they endeavored to make them into one. The heralds of 1801 followed their example; and the result is that I am now a heraldic absurdity; though, having flown over so many glorious fights, probably no attempt to alter me would succeed. Sir Harris Nicolas tried to get me slightly altered in 1832; he wanted MEANING OF "COAT-OF-ARMS." me to appear as I do on the bronze coinage, where I am represented wrongly, though perhaps sensibly, thus: - The Cross of Saint Andrew, surmounted by that of Saint Patrick, over all the Cross of Saint George, fimbriated argent. But I have not been rearranged yet, and I don't suppose I ever shall be, so I will try to describe myself in plain English. I am a blue flag, divided into four quarters by a red cross, with a narrow white border. Each quarter is divided by a red diagonal bar, with white border, from centre to centre; but the borders are not of equal width, those nearest the staff being broad above and narrow below, those in my fly, i. e., in my second and fourth quarters, being narrow above and broad below. Therefore, sir, if any of your loyal readers have occasion to hoist me, I hope they will see that the broad white border of the diagonal cross is uppermost, next the staff.
One word more, and I have done. "Hoist me right up"; don't have me flying four or five inches from the staff-head. I have to fly half-mast sometimes, and it is hard to be made to do so on occasions of rejoicing. - I am, sir, your obedient servant, UNION JACK.