into the Union, one star be added to the union of the
flag; and that such addition shall take effect on the fourth of
July next succeeding such admission.

"Approved April 4, 1818."

The use of stars by the Colonies on their flags was first suggested by a
little piece of poetry in a newspaper called the "Massachusetts Spy,"
published in Boston on March the 10th, 1774. It was as follows:

"A ray of bright glory
Now beams from afar;
The American Ensign
Now sparkles a star."

[Illustration: Figs. 6, 7, 10 and 11]

This piece of poetry was the cause of a flag being made in 1775 by a
patriotic vessel owner of Massachusetts having thirteen white stars on
it in a blue union, the body of the flag being white, with an anchor
upon it having over the top the word "HOPE" (see Fig. 1), already
mentioned. It was hoisted on the armed schooner Lee, Captain John Manley
(see also Rhode Island Colonial Records, Vol. X, p. 14. A similar flag
is now in the office of the Secretary of State. It was carried by a
Rhode Island regiment during the Revolution). Either this or the stars
on the Washington book plate, in the absence of any record, may be taken
as reasons for the adoption of the stars in the union in place of the
crosses of St. Andrew and St. George. I have also referred to the
claim that the combination of the stars and stripes was probably adopted
out of love and respect for Washington. If this claim is true, then we
would have, according to the Ross claim the spectacle of Washington
complimenting and honoring himself, when, as a matter of fact, his
whole life disproves such conduct on his part. Now, let us see if this
argument as to the origin of the combination is born out by facts. We
find in a book printed in London in 1704 by J. Beaumont that the
English East India Company had a flag of thirteen red and white stripes
alternating (see Fig. 6) the same as ours, only it had the red cross of
St. George in a white union. In 1705 they reduced the stripes to ten;
but in another work on ship-building, published in 1705, by Carl Allard
in Amsterdam, we find that he fixes the number of stripes at nine. Also
in a book published by Le Haye in 1737 we find that the number of
striped flags in existence in Europe were as follows: Bremen, nine
stripes, red and white, with a union of four squares, same colors;
Rotterdam, eleven stripes, red and green; North Holland, thirteen
stripes, red and yellow;