Thus pure, unsullied in its life-story, this three-crossed Union Jack of Canada is the only flag on the continent of America which has always and ever been the "flag of freedom," a flag under which all men, as their birthright, have been born equal and free.
Canadians may well, therefore, be proud of their flag, for what truer glory can be claimed for any other flag--than this, which spells out FREEDOM in its every fold?
There is yet the other ideal phase in which the Union Jack in the outer realms of the Empire and in Canada reigns supreme--that of "liberty to the people." The inborn hope which buds and blossoms in the hearts of a growing people as their energies evolve and their circumstances advance, finds its fruitage in the possession of mastery over their own homes, and thus a nation's desire for liberty is concentrated in the absorbing dream of self-government.
It was this spirit which spoke in the old English colonies in America when they averred, in their address to King George III., that they were "being degraded from the pre-eminent rank of _English_ freemen." The condition of a citizen in the old homeland was their highest ideal of the liberties of a people, and the only one with which, even in those times, they considered comparison could worthily be made.
The history of the Union Jack in the parent land has been connected, as we have seen, not solely with national allegiance, but yet more with parliamentary government; and its several parts have been combined in union to evidence the advent of union under representative institutions.
Such, too, has been the history of its expansion among the great groups of colonies of the British Empire which dot the outer world, a development of true democratic government which can best be realized by a comparison between the forms of government in Canada and that in the United States.
The creation of the constitution of England was not confined to a single date, nor was it the product of the men of a single period; its growth has been spread, like that of its flag, over century after century, as each successive phase of the ideal dream has become harmonized with the existing requirements of the day. Formed largely upon usage and upon precedent, it reflects the current views of the people, and, therefore, has never been restricted to invariable forms of words.