ORIGIN OF THE STARS AND STRIPES.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXX, Issue 6623, 12 September 1908, Page 4

ORIGIN OF THE STARS AND STRIPES.

Xu the “English Illustrated Magazine" wo aro taken on a “patriotic pilgrimage" to Sulgravo Village, near Helmdon. Of this characteristic English village tho writer says “At Sulgravo was the homo of that branch of tho Washington family from which George Washington, whilom reoei, leader of the armed forces of the revolted American colonies, first President of the United Status of America, was descended. Tho Manor House, where several generations dwelt, is still standing, with the family coat of arms cut in stone in tho gable above tho old oak doorway; while in tho church, where Washington's ancestors were buried, aro numerous memorial brasses bearing the same coat of arms. And inasmuch as we know the arms of the Virginia Washingtons to have been tiio same as those we nnd at bulgruve, no donut can remain chat Georgu Washington and the Sulgruve u asniuglons were of one family/ - ’ Thu writer finds the most interesting feature of all to bo tno Washington coat of arms still showing in stone above the entrance porch of tne old Priory. For there is to be found the origin of the American ensign and the American eagle:— “When the infant republic had achieved its independence as a nation and a national emblem was sought for, the foundation of tho design was found in the Washington coat of arms, red stripes on a white ground and tho heraldic form of the rowel stood for tho stars which dot the blue ground of tho flag. In place of the raven of tho crest was chosen the bald eagle of the American mountains. So that —strange irony of history!—tho national emblems of the United States, the revolted colonies of England, trace their origin to a coat of arms granted, it may be, by one of the Norman kings, conquerors of Groat Britain."