FLAG

A. national standard on which are certain emblems; an ensign; a banner. It 1s carried by soldiers, ships, etc., and commonly displayed at forts and many other suitable places. -Flag, duty of the. This was an ancient ceremony in acknowledgment of British sovereignty over the British seas, by which a foreign ve el struck her flag and lowered her top-sail on meeting the British flag.-Flag of the United States, By the act entitled "An act to establish the flag. of the United S'tates," (Rev. St. §§ 1791, 1792 [U. S. Comp. St. 1901, p. 1225],) it is provided "that, from and after the fourth· day of July next, the flag of the United States be thirteen horizontal stripes, alternate red and white; that the union be twenty stars, white in a blue ·field; that, on the admi ion of every new state into the Union, one star be added to the.union of the flag;.and that such addition shall take effect on the fourth day of July then next succeeding such admi ion."-Law of the flag. See LAw. [s. 510]