THE UNION JACK.

But to return to our flags. The Union Jack is a diminutive of the Union. It is exclusively a ship flag, and, although of the same pattern as the Union, it ought never to be called the Union Jack except when it is flown on the jack-staff,—a staff on the bowsprit or fore part of a ship. It is extraordinary how little this distinction is understood. For example, in the Queen's Regulations for the army a list of stations is given at which it is directed that "the national flag, the Union Jack, is authorized to be hoisted." And in a general order issued from the North British Head Quarters as to the arrangements to be observed on a recent occasion of the sitting of the General Assembly in Edinburgh, it was stated that "the Union Jack" would be displayed from the Castle and at the Palace of Holyrood. But the Union Jack is never flown on shore. The proper name of the national flag is the Union. It is the shore flag, and, except personal flags, the only one which is displayed from fortresses and other stations.

At the Royal Arsenal and a few other stations the Union flag is displayed daily. At others, such as Sandgate Castle and Rye, it is flown only on anniversaries. At Tilbury, Edinburgh Castle, and other places, it is hoisted on Sundays and anniversaries. And there are similar rules for foreign stations.

On board her Majesty's ships the Union is sometimes displayed, but only on special occasions. It is hoisted at the mizen top-gallant-masthead when the Queen is on board, the Royal Standard and the flag of the Lord High Admiral being at the same time hoisted at the main and fore top-gallant-mastheads respectively. And an Admiral of the Fleet hoists the Union at the main top-gallant-masthead. The Army Regulations, however, referring to the presence of the Queen on board ship, again confound the two flags, and prescribe that a salute shall be fired by forts whenever a ship passes showing the flags which indicate the presence of the sovereign, and among these is specified "the Union Jack at the mizen top-gallant-masthead." If the commandant of a fortress acted on this, her Majesty might pass every day of the year without a salute, as he would certainly never see the Union Jack in that position. The mistake is the more curious as the Regulations elsewhere distinguish the Union Jack from the Union by speaking of the latter as the "Great Union."

The Jack when flown from the mast with a white border is the signal for a pilot. In this case it is called the Pilot Jack. When flown from the bowsprit of a merchant ship it must also have a white border.

It has been said that the term "Jack" is derived from the name of the sovereign James I. (Jacques), in whose reign it was constructed. This is the legend at the Admiralty, but it is of doubtful authority. The Oxford Glossary says there is not a shadow of evidence for it, and traces the word to the surcoat worn of old by the soldiery called a jacque—whence jacket. But this also is doubtful.

The Union, or junction of the three crosses, is used in other cases in the royal navy, and also in the merchant service, not by itself, but in certain combinations.