The division of proportions allotted to the crosses and to the white border of St. George in the Union Jack has hitherto been treated solely by inference and also by comparison of the "drafts" selected and regulations which were issued for the construction of the flag. It may be well now to revert to some actual examples showing the details of flags early in use, which will further substantiate the reasons which led to the proportionate division of the spaces when the Union Jack of 1707 was altered in 1801, and our present Union Jack was designed to record the addition of Ireland to the Union. It has sometimes been stated that the red cross and white border of St. George indicate the presence of two crosses, the impression, formed by those who, as they admit, were "better acquainted with heraldic definitions than historic expression," being that they give the appearance of a red English cross placed over a white French cross. As reason for this, they point out that King James I. and all his successors until King George III. had been styled "Kings of Great Britain, France and Ireland." The successive Union Jacks had been created during the existence of this royal title, and, therefore, it is suggested that two crosses had been placed upon this part of the flag, one being the white cross of France, upon the face of which the red cross of St. George had been laid to thus present the ancient and long-past union of the kingdoms of France and England under the one sovereignty. The white cross of France, however, was not a straight-sided cross, such as that of St. George, but one of Maltese shape, being wider at the ends than at the centre. An instance of this flag is given in the copy (55) of the flag shown on the mainmast of a French caravel of the sixteenth century, as drawn in an old manuscript illustration.[140] [140] Caravelle Francaise tirée des "Ouvres Pilote du Havre," MSS. du XVI. Siecle. [Illustration 55: FLAG OF A FRENCH CARAVEL, 16TH CENTURY.] It is quite evident that the rectangular white border to the St. George could not be formed by a cross of this shape, and, therefore, this suggestion for the origin of the white border must be taken as erroneous. Further, it was not unreasonable, seeing that the Royal Standard is composed of the personal arms of the sovereign, that the successive kings and queens of England should have continued the _fleur-de-lis_ in one of the quarterings of their royal arms, as a sign of family succession, and as evidence of personal claim by descent to the old sovereignty of France; but the British nations brought into union did not themselves claim any such sovereignty, Calais, the last foothold of England in France, won by Edward III. in his claim to the succession of the throne of France, having been lost in 1558 under Queen Mary. There would, therefore, be no corresponding reason for inserting the French cross in the union flag, nor any historical connection which would justify its being so used.