The Dutch and Russian ensigns have the same tinctures as those of the present French flag, but borne fess ways--that is horizontally. The former has the red uppermost. The latter has _the metal_, the white, uppermost, and the two _colours_, the blue and the red--against all our notions of heraldic propriety--placed together below. (See Dutch and Russian flags, Plate IV. Nos. 6 and 8.) The Belgian colours adopted in 1831 are arranged as the French, but the colours are black, yellow, and red. (Plate IV. No. 5.) The flag of Prussia is also composed of three stripes-black, white, and red, but arranged horizontally. (Plate IV. No. 4.) The flag of Mexico is arranged like that of France, but the colours are green, white, and red. (Plate IV. No. 10.) THE AMERICAN FLAG. The history of the American flag is interesting. Previous to the Declaration of Independence the different colonies retained the standards of the mother country with the addition of some local emblem. Massachusetts, for example, adopted the pine-tree, a device which was also placed on the coins. In 1775 "the Union with a red field"--a red ensign--was displayed at New York on a liberty poll with the inscription, "George Rex and the Liberties of America;" and it is interesting to note that the first flag adopted as a national ensign by the ships of the United States consisted of the horizontal stripes with which we are familiar, but with the British Union still retained in a canton. This was replaced by the stars on a blue ground. Some of the flags first used--at the time when only twelve states had ratified the articles of convention--bore only twelve stars. On the 14th of August, 1777, Congress resolved "that the flag of the United States be thirteen stripes alternately red and white, and that the union be thirteen stars, white in a blue field, representing a new constellation." (See Fig. 32.) It has been said that the design of the flag was derived from arms borne by the family of Washington; but there is no foundation for this. An American writer--with probably as little ground for the statement--says: "the blue field was taken from the Covenanters' banner in Scotland, likewise significant of the League and Covenant of the United Colonies against oppression, and incidentally involving vigilance, perseverance, and justice. The stars were then disposed in a circle symbolizing the perpetuity of the union, as well as equality with themselves. The whole was a blending of the various flags used previous to the war, viz. the red flags of the army and white colours of the floating batteries--the gem of the navy."[48] [48] Article on "Flags," by H. K. W. Wilcox, New York, _Harper's Magazine_, July, 1873. [Illustration: Fig. 32.]