The position of the flag was, in 1606, regulated to be:

The construction of the new flag presents some peculiarities.

In this "additional" Jack of James I. (Pl. III., fig. 2), the red cross of St. George and its white ground, being the "St. George's crosse," had been ordered by the proclamation to be united with the white cross of St. Andrew and its blue ground, being the "St. Andrewe's crosse," the two flags being "joyned together according to the forme made by our heralds." In this "joining" the white ground of St. George's flag was reduced almost to a nullity.

As the form was the creation of heralds, it was made according to the strict heraldic rules of their highly technical craft. In heraldry, a narrow border of white or gold, termed a "fimbriation," is always introduced where colour would otherwise touch on colour for the purpose of keeping the colours separate, the technical statement of the rule being, "metal cannot be placed upon metal, nor colour upon colour." The heralds, therefore, in conformity with their tendencies, reduced the white ground of the St. George flag until it became only a narrow margin of white, just sufficient to keep the red of the cross of St. George from touching the blue ground of St. Andrew's flag upon which it was laid, or so that the white ground became simply "a fimbriation to the red cross of St. George."

The union of the two flags resulted in the Scotsman getting a good share of all that was going. It is true the crosses of the two flags were given equal display, but the white ground of the St. George's English Jack had entirely disappeared, while the blue ground of the St. Andrew's had been left in occupation of all the remaining space. No wonder that an English admiral of the "narrow seas," hankering after his old St. George Jack, says, a few years afterwards, of this new flag: "Though it may be more honour to both the kingdoms to be thus linked and united together, yet, in view of the spectators, it makes not so fair a show, if it would please His Majesty."[41]

The Scotsmen also raised objection to the cross of St. George having been placed over and in front of that of St. Andrew.[42] With, what appears to us now, much quaintness of language, the Scottish Privy Council made its formal complaint to His Majesty in a letter of 7th August, 1606, saying that,

Either one or the other of the crosses had to be in front, but as the whole of their blue ground had been retained, while the Englishman had lost all the white ground of his flag, the objection was not entertained.

This two-crossed Jack of James I., 1606, continued in use in the Royal Navy for over a century, with the exception of its retirement during the changes which, as we shall hereafter note, were made under Cromwell. During its term the British kingdom, which had already under the English Jack colonized the mainland of America from Massachusetts to Virginia, became more than ever an American power; for, under this new Jack, the islands which surrounded the coast, namely, the West Indies, Barbadoes, Bermuda, the Bahamas, Antigua and Jamaica, were added to the British Crown. On the continent of Europe as well, the victorious movements of the flag did not slacken, for under it Gibraltar was pounced upon and taken by Admiral Rooke, and Blenheim, the master victory of the great Marlborough, was won. This was a record and "glory roll" on both the continents worthy of the two races, whose forces had been joined at its creation.

Its position was, however, not throughout continuous, for successive changes were introduced in the regulations regarding its use during the century within which it achieved its varied career. All these changes, its alternating disappearances and reappearances, show that this King's Jack of James I. was not a flag which denoted a completed union, although by habit it came to be called the "Union Flagge," and subsequently the "Union Jack," of the nations, but was one which was introduced for another purpose, and carried a different signification, being that of the union of the thrones in one sovereign. Usage has, however, so long attached the name to this two-crossed flag of James I., that it may be well to consider it our first Union Jack.

CHAPTER VIII.

THE ENGLISH JACK RESTORED.

As a Single Jack 1648-1660

In the corner of the Ensign Red 1648-1707

The new two-crossed flag of King James had, in 1606, been authorized to be used by the ships of all his subjects, by the merchantmen as well as on the men-of-war. This order caused many heart-burnings among the admirals of the Royal Navy, and especially to the Admiral of the Narrow Seas, whose particular right it was to fly His Majesty's ensign on these much-frequented waters, and whose principal prerogative it was to see that the ships of other nations observed the courtesies and accorded the privileges due to the British flag in its claim to the Sovereignty of the Seas. Under this new arrangement other ships, as well as the ships of the Royal Navy, were carrying the King's Jack at the main, and the officers of the navy felt that their official prominence was thereby much diminished, for, as they said, how were foreigners to distinguish a merchantman from a man-of-war? Sir John Penington, Narrow Seas Admiral, in 1633, sent in his remonstrances, and pressed for the

It will be remembered that the ships of foreign nations were required, when meeting any of the Royal ships of the King of England, to dip their colours and topsails. This change the Admiral, therefore, considered,

The Royal Navy kept up a constant agitation for the repeal of the order, until at length, in 1634, being the thirty-eighth year of the flag from its first establishment by James I., their claim was acceded to by Charles I., and a proclamation was duly issued:

This proclamation of Charles I. made a very great change in the position of the "Union Flagge" of James, by restricting its use to one class of ships. That it had never been intended at that time to serve as a "national" flag is again clearly evidenced by the renewed declaration that it was the special signal of the Sovereign, to be used exclusively on the ships of the Royal Navy. Further, the merchant vessels owned by "subjects of any of our Nations and Kingdoms," which had thus lost the "additional" Jack, were ordered to continue to use, as of "olde time hath been used," their distinctive national flags. For the continued preservation of the peace, it was again required that each ship should display only the flag of the nation to which it belonged, namely, the St. George's crosse, or old English Jack, on English merchant ships, and St. Andrew's crosse, or Scotch Jack, on the Scotch merchant ships.

The position of the three flags at this time was thus clearly distinguished:

This first change in the position in the using of this first two-crossed Jack is shown in a drawing given of the "King's ships."

The battleship Sovereign of the Seas, which was built in 1637, was the glory of the fleet of Charles I., and proved herself, during her sixty years of active service, one of the best men-of-war of the time, and "so formidable to her enemies that none of the most daring among them would willingly lie by her side."[43]

The drawing (17) here shown of this ship is copied from a contemporary painting by Vandervelt. At the stern is the Royal Standard of Charles I.; on the two masts ensigns with royal ciphers; and the two-crossed "Union Flagge," which from 1634 was to be the "ornament proper for our owne shipps," is flying on the "Jack staff" at the bow. It was the "King's Flag" calling for the obeisance of foreign vessels.

But another change was yet to come, and after fourteen more years had passed away another Jack was flying at the bow, and the Royal Standard of the King had disappeared from the stern of the gallant vessels. Premonitory symptoms of this impending change had been given even so early as January, 1645, when the headings of the official lists of the ships of the navy had been altered by order of Parliament, so that the ships were officially entered as "The Parliament's Ships," instead of being described, as previously, "His Majesty's Ships."[44]

In February, 1648, the Revolutionary Parliament of England abolished the office of King, and by this and the subsequent execution of King Charles they cancelled the allegiance of Scotland and dissolved the connection between the kingdoms. A change was made in the Jacks which were to be worn on the men-of-war. The Parliament did not consider the Stuart kingdom of Scotland to be a portion of their State, and ordered that its recognition should be removed from the flags then used on their ships. An order of the Council was therefore passed, February 23rd, 1648, signed by John Bradshaw, "in ye name of ye Counsell of State," which was communicated in a letter to the Commissioners of the Navy, directing the change and ordering that "the ships that are in the service of the State shall beare the Red Crosse only in a white flagg, quite through the flagg." Up to that time carvings of the royal arms had been carried on the stern of all royal ships, so the order further directed that these also should be altered, and that "upon the Sterne of the Shippes there shall be the Red Crosse in one Escotcheon and the Harpe in one other, being the Armes of England and Ireland, both Escotcheons joined according to the pattern herewith sent unto you."

The form of these escutcheons is well shown in the twenty-shilling piece (18) issued during the Commonwealth, and also on a Parliamentary flag (19) then in use which had on the fly the same two emblems. One of these flags is still preserved in the house of the Admiralty Superintendent at Chatham, the colour of the ground of the flag being red.[45]

Thus the two-crossed Union Jack of James ceased to be used and disappeared from the navy, as it already had from the merchantmen, and the single red cross Jack of England was restored to its position as the only Jack carried on the men-of-war of the State, or on any English ship sailing the seas.

The merchant vessels of the two nationalities continued to use their English and Scottish national Jacks as before, but the Scottish ships were especially warned that they must not carry either the King's arms or the red cross of St. George, and in case any of these Scottish ships should be met so doing, the State's colonel-admirals were ordered to "admonish them not to do it in future."

The position of the Jacks was now:

This position the English St. George Jack continued to hold on the ships of the State navy until 1660, when another change took place, and, at the "Restoration" of Charles II., the two-crossed "Union Flagge" returned, without any proclamation, to the places where it had been displayed before the change made by the Commonwealth Parliament.

On the Naseby (20) it will be noticed that the two-crossed Jack is flying at the bow and on the mizzen, instead of the single red cross flag ordered by Parliament. How this came about is told in the next chapter.

Here, then, ended the period during which the English Jack, having been restored as a single flag, had continued to be, from 1648 to 1660, the only Jack authorized to be used on the men-of-war.

After the return of the King his subjects evidently began, in their enthusiasm, to make such indiscriminate use of this "King's Jack" instead of the single St. George Jack that they needed, a few years afterwards, to be reminded of the special instructions respecting the flag which had been given in the previous reign. In consequence of this, in 1663, another proclamation was issued, under Charles II., from which the following extract is made:

The distinctive order of the flags was this time arranged to be:

From the time of this proclamation of Charles II. the Jack of King James regained its officially authorized position, but only as a single flag, and even then was ordered to be used only on the royal men-of-war. The merchant ships, however, began again so frequently to fly this Jack instead of their single-cross Jacks, that in the reign of William III., and again in the reign of Queen Anne (prior to the creation of her own two-crossed Jack), it was found necessary to issue special proclamations reiterating the official restriction of this two-crossed Jack of James to the ships of the Royal Navy, and forbidding any other ships to use it.

Although the merchantmen were not always using the single St. George Jack, which had been restored to them, and it had given way in the Royal Navy to the two-crossed Jack, yet it had always continued to be used in the Ensign Red referred to in the proclamation. The creation of this Ensign Flag, in 1648, is told in the next chapter, and in this form the restoration of the English Jack was extended for a further period to 1707, and reserved for a special further honour in later times.

In the British Navy of the present day the St. George Jack has become, and is ordered to be, the distinctive flag of an Admiral. According to the mast upon which it is raised his rank is indicated, and the ship on which it is carried is termed the "Flag Ship." These flags are displayed as follows:

Thus has the English Jack been once more restored, and being the signal of command in the British Navy, it is a continuing memorial of the prowess of the seamen of England, whose ships so early won the sea command for the united empire.

CHAPTER IX.

THE EVOLUTION OF THE RED ENSIGN.

The history of the Jacks as single flags having been traced through these periods, we may revert to the changes brought about by their being made part of a larger flag, and note how the exalted position at the stern of the ships was transferred to a new flag, a National Ensign, in the upper corner of which the English Jack was placed alone, when this flag was first created.

Under James I. and Charles I., as also under the previous sovereigns of England, the flag flown at the stern of the men-of-war had been the Royal Standard of the Sovereign, of which an example is given in the drawing of the Sovereign of the Seas (17).

The Royal Standard bearing upon it then, as it does now, the armorial bearings or "arms" of the Sovereign, was the banner of the King, and, as then placed at the stern of the ships, signified his direct management and control of the royal fleet.

Before the close of the reign of Charles I. the money control of the Royal Navy had been jealously assumed by Parliament, and the ships had been enrolled as "the Parliament ships." With the advent of the Commonwealth the ships of the navy were no longer the ships of the King, but became the ships of the State.

PLATE IV

It was to take the place of the King's Standard at the stern that the Commonwealth Parliament created a flag, called the Commonwealth Ensign (Pl. IV., fig. 1), to be carried on their men-of-war. This was a red flag, having in the fly a yellow Irish harp, and in the upper corner next the staff the St. George cross upon a white ground. Ireland had early been overrun by the Commonwealth armies, so her emblem was included in the flag, but Scotland had warmly espoused the cause of the Stuarts, and was, therefore, not recognized.

Cromwell, after he had been raised to the position of Protector, and had dragooned Scotland into submission, put out, in 1658, another flag as the "Great Union," or banner of the Commonwealth (Pl. IV. , fig. 2), in which the crosses of St. George and St. Andrew were shown for England and Scotland, and the harp, on a blue ground, for Ireland; but they were each placed in separate quarters of the flag, instead of being joined together in one union, and on a black shield in the centre he caused to be displayed a lion rampant, as representing his own coat-of-arms and himself.

This "Great Union" of Cromwell does not appear to have entered into much use, although it certainly was displayed at his funeral.

The fleets of the navy were then flying ensigns of three different colours—red, blue and white—according to the rank of the admirals who were in command, red being the colour of the admirals of highest rank and the typical colour of England.[46]

Contemporary paintings also show that red, blue and white ensigns were in use under the Commonwealth, with a single harp in the fly, and a Dutch medal, struck to commemorate the death of Admiral Tromp, also shows the same design of flag.

The "Commonwealth Ensign," now having the Irish harp inserted in the flag, was the official flag flown at the stern of the ships of the States Navy during the period of the Commonwealth.

The rule of the Commonwealth party having, shortly after the death of Cromwell, come to its sudden termination, the Royalist supporters of the absent King did not take time or wait for any formal proclamation authorizing a change in flags which had come into existence under the order of the Commonwealth Council.

Pepys tells in his "Diary" of how this change was begun. Being "Clerk of the Acts of the Navy," he had been deputed to read the proclamation of Parliament declaring the restoration of the King to the crews on board those ships of the Navy which had been appointed to cross over to The Hague and bring Charles II. to England.

Under the Commonwealth successful generals and officers on land had been appointed to commands as admirals and officers in the navy, and the military titles were still retained, the official title of the officers in highest command in the navy of the Commonwealth being "Admirals and Generals at Sea."

While lying at anchor in the Downs, waiting for the high officials who were to accompany the fleet, Pepys records how the "General of the fleet" went from ship to ship in a small boat, telling them to "alter their Arms and flagges."

On 13th May, 1660, being on board the London, one of the ships of this squadron, he makes the following entries of his day's doings, and tells of the making of these changes: "To their quarterdeck, at which the taylers and painters were at work, cutting out some pieces of yellow cloth in the fashion of a crown and 'C.R.' to be put up instead of the State's arms." He also records that meetings of the officers were held, and that he had attended "in the afternoon a council of war only to acquaint them that the harp must be taken out of all their flags, it being very offensive to the King."

When, therefore, the harp had been removed from their flags, there remained the simple "Ensign Red," having the St. George cross in the upper white canton.

The Naseby (20)—afterwards re-named the Royal Charles—was one of the ships of the squadron which crossed to The Hague, and the actual ship on which Charles II. came over to England. The drawing shows the Ensign Red flying at the stern. There had not been sufficient opportunity for the obtaining of new flags, and, therefore, those which they had in use were altered on board the ships, as Pepys has told, and this flag is a Commonwealth "Ensign Red," with the Irish harp cut out (Pl. IV., fig. 3).

A very great deal of dependence cannot, as a rule, be placed on the form of the flags introduced into their pictures by artists even of the highest rank. When painting flags more attention is frequently given by them to the colour effect desired to be produced than to the accurate drawing of the details.

Some instances of unworthy errors in the drawing of national flags may be mentioned. In a painting by Leutze, now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, a representation is shown of "Washington crossing the Delaware, on December 25th, 1776." In this a flag with the stars and stripes is prominently shown, although no such flag had any existence until a year and a half afterwards,[47] an error which has been perpetuated by a copy of this painting on a series of the national bank-notes issued by the United States Government. In the Capitol of the United States at Washington there is a picture of the "Battle of Lake Erie," fought in 1814, in which the flag on Commodore Perry's boat has only thirteen stars and thirteen stripes, although the United States ensign had been changed twenty years before, in 1794, to have fifteen stars and fifteen stripes. On the walls of the Commons Corridor in the British Houses of Parliament at Westminster is a fresco representing the landing of Charles II., in 1660, in which the Union Jack is depicted as having three crosses, the red cross of St. Patrick being included, although it was not entered in the flag until 1801, or 140 years afterwards.

In each of these instances the artist was painting from his imagination, but Vandervelt, who painted the picture from which our illustration of the Naseby is taken, was himself present on the occasion he recorded, and, seeing that he was the most celebrated marine artist of his day, the details of the flags can be taken to be correct.

The subsequent proclamation of Charles II., in 1663 (page 89), shows that this flag not only continued to be used on the royal ships, but that also all the merchant ships had adopted it and were flying the "Ensign Red" at the stern in the same way as on the Naseby, and thus it was that this flag, having become established by usage as the national ensign, was then confirmed in its position by the proclamation of the King.

Further confirmation of its use is given by the medals issued in 1665 by Charles II., which he granted to his followers in recognition of service. One of these is given in fig. 21. On the reverse is a ship in full sail. On the flag at the mainmast head are the letters "C.R.," being the abbreviation of CAROLUS REX, and intended to indicate that the flag was the Royal Standard; at the bow the two-crossed Jack, and at the stern the Red Ensign with the St. George Jack in the upper corner.

The place of distinction at the stern had been occupied, as under Charles I., by the Royal Standard of the reigning kings. To this position the Commonwealth ensign had been installed as being the ensign of the State, and then by the unpremeditated transition at the "Restoration" the Red Ensign succeeded to the post of honour as the ensign of the nation.

The story of this flag again exemplifies its harmony with the peculiar genius of the British constitution, for it attained to its position, not by a single verbal enactment, but by force of unwritten usage, and its gradual acceptance by the will of the people, after which it was confirmed by the Act of the sovereign.

It will also be noted in the drawing of the Naseby, and on the medal, that the Royal Standard of Charles II. is shown flying at the main. This was the position at which it had, under previous sovereigns, been displayed by the Lord High Admiral of the Navy to indicate his rank. The Earl of Warwick, who was Lord High Admiral under Charles I., continued to fly it at the main even after the death of the King; but when Warwick was dismissed from his post by the Commonwealth, the Royal Standard was no longer used as the distinction flag of the Royal High Admiral. When the Commonwealth ended and a new King returned, it was again raised to the place where it had been displayed by the last Royalist admiral.

At the present day the Royal Standard, being the personal flag of the Sovereign, is only shown to indicate the royal presence or that of some member of the Royal Family, or raised in recognition of some special royal day. On shipboard it is raised on the mainmast immediately the royal personages come alongside, and is lowered the moment that they leave, the national ensign being still displayed at the stern.

It was the St. George cross which had been placed in the upper corner of the Commonwealth ensign; from here it had passed into the Ensign Red of Charles II., thereafter borne at the stern on both merchantmen and men-of-war. In the paramount ensign of the nation the single-cross English Jack was thus carried from 1648 to 1707, when its place in the national ensign was taken for the first time by a two-crossed Jack, and then only by the first real Union Jack, the Jack of Queen Anne.

In all the series of changes mentioned in this and the previous chapter direct evidence is given that the "commonly called Union Jack" of James was only an "additional" flag; that having been considered the "King's Jack," it had not officially displaced the local national Jacks, and that, although it had superseded them as a single flag on the Royal Navy, it had never been introduced into the paramount and national ensign of the nation.

Such, then, was the origin and evolution of the Ensign Red, the national ensign of the British people, and which formed, with the changes made in the Jack in the subsequent reigns of Queen Anne and George III., the basis of the present "Red Ensign" of the British Empire.

Our national ensign tells us how from its very origin it signified the progress of constitutional rule. The Royal Standard of Charles I. at the stern was the expression of absolute rule by the King without the control of Parliament; the Commonwealth Ensign told of the absolute rule of Parliament without the King; the Ensign Red at the stern recorded the coming of constitutional government by both King and Parliament; and so our Red Ensign still tells the story of British constitutional rule by sovereign and people, represented in their united power by this Union Ensign flying at the stern of all British ships and over all the British lands which bear it united allegiance.

CHAPTER X.

THE SOVEREIGNTY OF THE SEAS.

THE FIGHT FOR THE FLAG.

At the close of the first historic period of the St. George Jack we saw it reigning supreme upon the seas around the shores of England. The great Armada had, in 1588, been met and shattered, and its squadrons so relentlessly pursued around the British Isles that but a remnant remained to struggle back to Spain and tell the story of their defeat.

After such a victory as this the red cross flag of the "Navie Royall" sailed the Narrow Seas with more assurance than ever, claiming and receiving the obeisance of all vessels that were passing by. The ancient policy of Alfred and of John had been as much esteemed during this Elizabethan period, and its principles adhered to as earnestly and for the same reason as in the earliest days; but the increase of merchant shipping and the rise of the business fleets of England now gave a new reason for its being maintained beyond the old one of self-defence. With the advent of long-distance voyages riches were now to be found beyond the confines of the Narrow Seas. Sir Walter Raleigh stated the new reason with a terseness which four centuries of phrase-making has not since excelled. Said he: "Whosoever commands the sea commands the trade; whosoever commands the trade of the world commands the riches of the world, and consequently the world itself."

The sovereignty of the seas had in this way developed a trade value; yet, whatever may have been the real and underlying causes, the contests for the supremacy which for the next hundred years kept simmering between the nations, bursting out at times into blasts of open war, arose ostensibly from disputes between the guardians of the rival fleets regarding the honourable precedence to be accorded to their respective flags.

The sea-rovers of Elizabeth had developed into something very like "gentleman-buccaneers." They ranged the oceans, preying upon the Spanish and Portuguese ships wherever they were to be found, and returned in joyousness, bringing home their booty. The maritime eagerness of the people was whetted by these prizes, and it is said that even the Queen herself was not averse to accepting from her good subjects, Drake and Hawkins, a share of the proceeds of their prowess. The reign of the Jack of James I. had scarce begun when a neighbouring maritime rival arose to assume formidable proportions. Nurtured in the hardy school of their fishing fleets, and practised in distant voyages by traffic with their possessions in the East Indies, the Dutch merchantmen not only copied the English methods of preying abroad on the ships of other nations, but also began to employ themselves actively in carrying the water-borne business of their own merchants, and next, which was an intrusion much more objectionable, to enter into competition with the English ships in carrying the merchandise for the other nations of Europe. Thus the passage of the Dutch fleets along the coasts of Europe greatly increased. As soon as the Spanish war was over, Sir William Monson, the Admiral of the Narrow Seas, demanded that the ships of all other nations should, as of old, lower their flags in the presence of his own, "a courtesy which could not," he announced, "be challenged by right, but now that the war was ended, His Majesty James I. demanded the full recognition of such rights and duties as belonged to his predecessors."[48]

These old rights the Admiral and his officers accordingly proceeded to enforce.

The spirit of the British sailors under the King's new two-crossed Jack was still the same as under the English Jack, and one is reminded of the old pride in the flag by an instance which is narrated as having occurred under James I. One of the ministers of Henry IV. of France had embarked at Calais to cross to England in a French ship wearing the French flag at the main. The commander of the English despatch boat, which had been sent to escort him, on meeting him in the channel, ordered the French ship to lower her flag. "The Duke of Sully, considering that his quality freed him from such an affront, boldly refused, but this refusal was followed by his receiving three cannon shots which pierced his ships. Might forced him to yield what right forbade, and for all the complaints he made he could get no better reply from the English captain than this: 'That just as his duty obliged him to honour the ambassador's rank, so it also obliged him to exact the honour due to the flag of his master as Sovereign of the Seas.'"[49]

The "rufflings" increased in frequency, and the contest went merrily on, as the Dutch, increasing in enterprise and volume of shipping, chafed still more under the domination of the English admirals. In this restlessness they were encouraged by the differences which were raging between King Charles I. and his Parliament. The latter thwarted the King's efforts at sea and refused to contribute to the levy of "ship-money," declaring it to be an "insufferable tax"; while he, without their concurrence, was attempting to strengthen the navy, which he had created to assert the King of England's right to the sovereignty of the seas and for the protection of his shores, by the maintenance of the old Alfred policy. The King's sailors felt keenly the increasing insolence of the passing Dutch ships, as wrote one old salt:

Notwithstanding the Parliament's objections, an English navy was at one time collected of sufficient strength that, when the Dutch and French fleets joined together in 1635 with the avowed intention of contesting the command of the sea, its simply sailing out to meet them overawed their forces, as reports Monson:

The King's opponents averred that the quarrels with the Dutch over the honour due to the flag were fomented only for the purpose of forming an excuse for extorting more money by the objectionable ship-money, whose proceeds, they alleged, were expended for very different purposes than the maintenance of the navy. So the people resisted, while the King persisted. Later on, during the Civil War, English ships, manned by Royalist supporters of the King, were engaged in fighting against English ships manned by supporters of the Parliament, and each party was preying upon the merchant adherents of the other. Meantime, the Dutch maritime power continued to grow. The struggle between the Parliament and the King resulted in the defeat and execution of Charles, and the weakening of the fleet by these dissensions brought on the humiliation of the English flag during the first Dutch war.

Under Cromwell, in 1648, the St. George cross had been restored.

The Council of State took heart, and showed by their actions that once more the homage due the national flag was held by them in as great esteem as it had been by the King and his party in the royal days. The orders to their naval commanders were explicit: