Three medals[151] have been granted by their sovereign to commemorate the gallantry of the Canadians who thus fought beneath the Union Jack: In 1812-15, for union with the Motherland (62); in 1866-70, for service in defence of their country during the Fenian raids (63); and in 1885, for union within Canada itself (64). Such are some of the events which have given rise to the stirring patriotism evinced by Canadians for their national flag, and which have kept aflame the passionate fervour of their loyalty not only at home, but when they joined hands in 1900 with their brothers-in-arms from British Isles and Colonies to fight and die for union in South Africa. [151] See Appendix C--"Canadian War Medals." Four times within the century--in 1775, 1812, 1866, and 1870--have Canadians raised their Union Jack in defence of home and native land, and once, in 1885, for maintenance of union within themselves. As Canadians see it waving above their school-houses, and on the ships, or over their homes, they read in the crosses the stories that they tell, and remember that the deep red tones in its folds have been freshened and coloured by the heart-blood of Canada's sons, poured out for it in ungrudging loyalty on their own loved soil. The sons of the parent nations have carried it in many a far-off strife, but in their own island homes, "compassed by the inviolate sea," they sleep secure, and never have had to fight beneath it in defence of native land. It is in this regard that Canadians can cherish this flag even more than they who first carried it, and their sons may now rightly wear it as their very own, for the Union Jack is so bound up with love of country, defence of home, and all that is glorious in Canada's history, that it is the union flag of Canada itself. CHAPTER XXIII. _THE FLAG OF FREEDOM._ These stories of martial and constitutional advance are not all the story that this Union Jack tells. There is something more than mere valorous devotion which should be aroused in the expression of loyalty for a flag. Such a devotion might be found even under a despot's sway, for racial and reckless valour may, with some, take the place of thoughtful allegiance. The story of an ideal flag should declare a supreme idea, an idea which has been so well expressed as being the "divine right of liberty in man. Not lawlessness, not license, but organized institutional liberty--liberty through law, and law for liberty."[152] [152] Henry Ward Beecher. When a flag records, by the unmistakable story of its life, how this desired freedom has been not simply alleged, but granted in actual fact to all who have reached the soil of its dominion, and, further, tells how the amplest dream of self-government is realized by those who dwell beneath its sway, then, indeed, is that flag to be cherished with the most passionate devotion, and valued in the most critical estimation.