Pan-Celticism
De Gaulle dreamed of the resurrection of the Celtic languages as vehicles for high culture. A devout Catholic and monarchist, de Gaulle saw Celtic countries as guardians of tradition and proposed a restoration of Breton political autonomy, providing a model for later Breton nationalists. In 1864 he wrote an appeal to the current representatives of the "Celtic race", proposing Celtic festivals:
If I am allowed to express a wish - as yet most ambitious, doubtless difficult to accomplish - it would be to see a new religious order, or at least, a special division of a former religious order, to devote, under the invocation of old saints, wise men from both Britains to preaching and instruction of youth of all classes in the Celtic countries, and this mainly through indigenous languages...After the celebration of holy sacrifice, in open fields, on an old dolmen, surrounded by the people of neighbouring parishes, the solemnities open with a contest of popular bards... Shooting, wrestling, horse and foot races, regattas at the seaside, would provide a new and useful means of improving our agile and robust youth.
De Gaulle insisted that Celtic countries must retain their languages to avoid cultural extinction, asserting that "so long as a conquered people speaks another language than the conquerors, the best part of them is still free". He also proposed a Celtic Union that would establish and develop links between Celtic countries. There should also be a Celtic "esperanto" to facilitate communication and which would be created from common elements in all Celtic languages.
De Gaulle wrote to cultural leaders in Wales, Scotland and Ireland to organise a Pan-Celtic congress in Saint-Brieuc in 1867, which he succeeded in pushing through despite opposition from the French government. Unable to travel, he wrote the poem Da Varsez Breiz (With Bards of Brittany) in Breton, including the lines:
E Paris va c'horf zo dalc'het
Med daved hoc'h nij va spered
Vel al labous, aden askel,
Nij de gaout he vreudeur a bell
(In Paris my body is held
But towards you my spirit flies,
Swftly like a bird,
To meet his far away brothers.)
Read more about this topic: Charles De Gaulle (poet)