Even if it be admitted that the Union Jack is the national flag, and that the red and white and blue ensigns are meroly modifications of that flag for distinctive purposes, there is still a question as to what const!!::.0s a properly constructed Union Jack. In places like Shanghai, to In places like Shanghai, to which most of the British inhabitants have arrived by way of a long sea voyage, a fair general Imowledge—though by no means an accurate knowledge—prevails; but in England there is x profound ignorance on the subject. In London during the corona~ tion decorations quite a third of the Union flags, even when properly constructed, were flown upside down, and a very largo proportion were improperly constructed, bearing only " very general resemblance to the true flag. This is not surprising, however, since a friend who has just seen the original design of the flag, drawn at the time of its adoption just after the Act of Union, which united the Parliaments of Great Britain and Ireland, tells me that it does not by any means closely correspond to the admiralty regulations for the construction of flags. The controversy has Jed to two excellent suggestions. Once is that all children should be taught the true construction and history of our national flag, and another that its correct form should be settled beyond question by legislative enactment. Tt might at the same time he found advisable to modify the form of the flag as laid down in the somewhat vague proclamation of 1801—n form which, according to all experts, violates the ancient canons of heraldry. Such ge might he made without appreciably altering the appea ance of the flag.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.