after the Union of March 1603, was not decided by Parliament but in the courts by Calvin's Case (1608), which extended property rights to all the King's subjects in English common law. National animosity Scottish aristocrats and other placeseekers made their way to London to compete for high positions in government. Several years later Sir Anthony Weldon was to write: A wounding observation came in the comedy Eastward Ho, a collaboration between Ben Jonson, George Chapman and John Marston. In enthusing over the good life to be had in the Colony of Virginia, it is observed: Anti-English satires proliferated, and in 1609, the king had an act passed that promised the direst penalties against the writers of "pasquillis, libellis, rymis, cockalanis, comedies and sicklyk occasiones whereby they slander and maligne and revile the estait and countrey of England..." In October 1605 Nicolò Molin, the Venetian ambassador in London, noted that "the question of the Union will, I am assured, be dropped; for His Majesty is now well aware that nothing can be effected, both sides displaying such obstinacy that an accommodation is impossible; and so his Majesty is resolved to abandon the question for the present, in hope that time may consume the ill-humours". Symbols King James devised new coats of arms and a uniform coinage. The creation of a national flag proved contentious, designs acceptable to one side typically offending the other. James finally proclaimed the new Union Flag on 12 April 1606: Scots who saw in it a St George's Cross superimposed upon a St Andrew's Saltire sought to create their own 'Scotch' design, which saw the reverse superimposition take place. (that design was used in Scotland until 1707). For years afterwards, vessels of the two nations continued to fly their respective "flags", the royal proclamation notwithstanding. The Union Flag entered into common use only under Cromwell's Protectorate. See also Commonwealth realm Imperial Federation References Sources Croft, Pauline (2003). King James. Basingstoke and New York: Palgrave Macmillan. . Galloway, Bruce, & Levack, Brian, ed., (1985) The Jacobean Union, Six tracts of 1604, Edinburgh, Scottish History Society. Willson, David Harris ([1956] 1963 ed). King James VI & 1. London: Jonathan Cape Ltd. . Wormald, Jenny (1994). "The Union of 1603", in Scots and Britons, op cit. External links Union of the Crowns 400th anniversary − educational website Ulster-Scots Agency.com: "1603 — The Union of the Crowns" James VI and