"The Red Ensign, _usually worn_ by merchant ships without any defacement or modification whatsoever, is hereby _declared to be the proper national colour_ of all ships and boats belonging to any subject of Her Majesty, except in the case of Her Majesty's ships, or in the case of any other ships for the time being allowed to wear any other national colours in pursuance of a warrant from Her Majesty or from the Admiralty."[185] [185] The Merchant Shipping (Colours) Act, 1889. It may be that the Red Ensign, which was the common flag of all the people ashore and afloat and the admiral's flag of highest rank and worn by the merchant ships, in the time of the Dutch wars, was given to the merchantmen in recognition of their great services in winning the supremacy of the sea; that the White Ensign was given to the Royal Navy in recognition and memory of Trafalgar; and the Blue Ensign to the Royal Naval Reserve because they were the rear guard to Her Majesty's ships; but the Union Jack was the binding link between them all, and established their rank and designation as "Union Ensigns." The Red Ensign, first with its St. George cross under Charles II., afterwards with its two-crossed Union Jack under Queen Anne, and then with its three-crossed Jack, had thus become the national ensign on all British ships at sea, and not being restricted to any particular services, as are the white and blue ensigns, and in its red form, authorized by Queen Anne for use on land, it increased in its usage, and has become the Ensign of the British people on shore as well as afloat. "Where is the Briton's land? Where'er the blood-red ensign flies, There is the Briton's land." Whether it be in the "right little, tight little islands" of the old land, or in the greater area of the colonies which stud the globe, the presence of this Union Ensign proclaims the sovereignty of the united nations and the presence and protection of the British Empire. Thus the three crosses in the Union Jack have ceased to have solely their local meanings, for their story has become merged in the larger significance which their presence now imparts to the several Dominion Union Ensigns as being the sign of this greater British Union. CHAPTER XXVII. _THE UNION ENSIGNS OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE._ A further evolution in the Union flag has come step after step, by which the distinguishing emblems of the colonies have become part, first of the Union Jack, afterwards of the Union ensigns, and then through the red ensign to unite home and colony in one Imperial Union ensign.