It is clear that a man that some regard as a pivotal influence in the growth of the Inter-Celtic movement was also enthused by plans by Welsh emigrants to establish a new home for themselves in South America
Amongst the wealth of material now available on the new Glaniad web-site concerning the establishment of the Welsh community in Patagonia there are photographs and copies of correspondence from Charles de Gaulle who was an eminent Celtic scholar and poet and the uncle of the Charles de Gaulle who later became President of France
De Gaulle influence in the embryonic beginnings of the inter celtic movement is best set out in Peter Beresford Ellis's book "The Celtic Dawn" which is currently the definite history of all the Pan Celtic organisations.
In his introduction Beresford Ellis says in relation to Charles De Gaulle:
"Of all the many books devoted to Celtic Studies there has, curiously, never been a study of the one dynamic force which, in my opinion, is responsible for the upsurge of interest in Celtic matters. In the 1860s, a vague and confused idea of Celtic cultural commonality was given a new philosophical directive by a Breton-language poet, Charles de Gaulle. De Gaulle was the uncle of the famous general - who was named after him - who became President of France."
The level of enthusiasm De Gaulle hads for the Patagonian project is clear from the items now published on the Glaniad website which includes correspondence between De Gaulle and some of the leaders of the project.
In correspondence to Michael D. Jones De Gaulle, writing from Paris, pledges his support to the movement to establish a Welsh settlement in Patagonia, the news of which he says has 'excited also the deepest sympathy' amongst the American-Bretons.
References:
1) (voir le site) 2) The Celtic Dawn - Peter Beresford Ellis - ISBN 0 09 4727708 J B Moffatt Director of Information Celtic League
21/03/07
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