With Great Britain the command of the ocean is all-important. By our sea-power our great Empire has been built up, and by it alone can it endure. "A power to which Rome in the height of her glory is not to be compared--a power which has dotted over the surface of the whole globe her possessions and military posts, whose morning drum-beat, following the sun, and keeping company with the hours, circles the earth with one continuous and unbroken strain of the martial airs of England." So spoke Daniel Webster in 1834, and our ever-growing responsibilities have greatly increased since the more than sixty years when those words were uttered. Let us in conclusion turn to the "True Greatness of Kingdoms and Estates," written by Bacon, a great and patriotic Englishman, where we may read the warning words:-- { 85}
"We see the great effects of battles by sea; the Battle of Actium decided the empire of the world; the Battle of Lepanto arrested the greatness of the Turk.
"There be many examples where sea-fights have been final to the war; but this is when princes or States have set up their rest upon the battles; but this much is certain, that he who commands the sea is at great liberty, and may take as much and as little of the war as he will, whereas those that be strongest by land are many times, nevertheless, in great straits.
"Surely at this day, with us of Europe, the vantage of strength at sea (which is one of the dowries of this kingdom of Great Britain) is great; both because most of the kingdoms of Europe are not merely inland, but girt with the sea most part of their compass, and because the wealth of both Indies seems, in great part, but an accessory to the command of the seas."
We are the sons of the men who won us this goodly heritage, and it behoves us in turn to hand it on to our descendants in undiminished dignity, a world-wide domain beneath the glorious Union Flag that binds all in one great brotherhood.
The Flag of Columbus--Early Settlements in North America--the Birth of the United States--Early Revolutionary and State Flags--the Pine-tree Flag--the Rattle-snake Flag--the Stars and Stripes--Early Variations of it--the Arms of Washington--Entry of New States into the Union--the Eagle--the Flag of the President--Secession of the Southern States--State Flags again--the Stars and Bars--the Southern Cross--the Birth of the German Empire--the Influence of War Songs--Flags of the Empire--Flags of the smaller German States--the Austro-Hungary Monarchy--The Flags of Russia--The Crosses of St. Andrew and St. George again--the Flags of France--St. Martin--The Oriflamme--the Fleurs-de-lys--Their Origin--the White Cross--the White Flag of the Bourbons--the Tricolor--the Red Flag--the Flags of Spain--of Portugal--the Consummation of Italian Unity--the Arms of Savoy--the Flags of Italy--of the Temporal Power of the Papacy--the Flag of Denmark--its Celestial Origin--the Flags of Norway and Sweden--of Switzerland--Cantonal Colours--the Geneva Convention--the Flags of Holland--of Belgium--of Greece--the Crescent of Turkey--the Tughra--the Flags of Roumania, Servia, and Bulgaria--Flags of Mexico and of the States of Southern and Central America--of Japan--the Rising Sun--the Chrysanthemum--the Flags of China, Siam, and Corea--of Sarawak--of the Orange Free State, Liberia, Congo State, and the Transvaal Republic.