Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-07-19
Has New Alsace-LOrraines



The average Frenchman takes scant
notice Of these questions, as he Is SUI
prenely confident OF the magnetic
power of his own civilization ana can
not conceive of any sane person desir-
ing to live under another flag. The
silence with which he surrounds these
problems is pierced only occasionally
by a shrill note of dissatisfaction issu-
ing from one of the subject" nation
Alities. otherwise, everything looks
serene In a republic whose centralized
system of news distribution makes 1t
possible to sift out undesirable lntor-
nation before 1t reaches the breakfast
table Of the foreign reader.
Brittany. the land or about 100000
Bretons, bids fair to develop into post
war edition of pre-war Alsace, with the
difference, however, that at present the
Bretons merely want their autonomy in
the framework Of the French Republic
and have no thought Of seeding from
the mere patrie.
This part of France is we'll known to
tourists who like to see rugged cliffs
soaking their feet in foaming waves
m the opinion of many of her inhab-
itants. Brittany has been destined by
nature 10 tread her own ways. She Is
q peninsula, iutting into the sea with
reckless abandon and making an at
tempt to run away from sedately
massive France.
Breton nationalism was stirred into
a strong flame by the World War. Like
the rest of the inhabitants OF France
the Bretons we're made to rise in arms
against a world order which prevented
small nations from living their own
lives. They went to the rescue of Bel
GUM and gave up their lives so that
Esthonia and Latvia might safely estab-
lish themselves in the comfy OF ma
lions. Were the Bretons presumptuous
In asking for their own liberty?
In the trenches they rubbed Shout
ders with the sons of the French
Cornte of Champagne and Of the Dau-
rhine They discovered. much to their
stupefaction that their countrymen, the
French, were the inhabitants OF a dill
ferent glooe. speaking language which
was not that of the Bretons and look
ing back on history which saw Brit
tarly on the other side OF the fence.
Bretons React Quickly.
To this surprising discovery the
Bretons reacted promptly and with un-
rnistakable determination. They took
n studvine their history and found
solace in the glory, magniied by the
uassins of the centuries. which had
been theirs while they we're an inde-
pendent kingdom. They remembered
their Celtic origin and their homeland
in Britain, from which the ferocious
AnRlO-SaxOH IOICcu IliClll OuI A'oOO
years ago. They unused on the ZOO
years before the French revolution
when they belonged to France in name
but retained much of their former IN
dependence. They pondered over the
success of the revolutionary Zealots VINO
converted them to the only true faith
and weaned them away from their
heritage. They thought with some
anger of the denationalizing policy of
the two Bonapartes. which the third
Republic intensified and sought to
bring to q conclusion.
Although the World War made
Breton nationalism what it is today the
process has been laboriously prepared
during several decades. 1t is instruc-
tive, in this connection, to draw con-
illusions of the development and
strength of the national idea from the
names which the Breton organizations
assumed. The Breton Association un-
der the reign of Napoleon III was the
first meek attempt of a nation trying
to find its soul; it aspired to nothing
more ambitious than the cultivation
of Brittany's native ways. Yet, even
this was too much for the Emperor,
who put an end to the existence Of
the association before 1t could grow into
O crystallizing force.
The third Republic, less fearsone and
more confident of its legitimacy, toll
Grated the emergence and growth OF the
Breton Regionalist Union" and of the
"Regionalist Federation" which sought
conveyed. They were nothing more
than French regional organizations,
such as one finds in every corner of
France, for the promotion of local in
terests, political and cultural. The
Breton Nationalist party which came
into life shortly before the war. savored
of dissatisfaction more than any Of its
predecessors. 1t aimed at increasing
Breton influence in the Chamber of
Deputies in Paris and delegating some
executive authority to the proposed Diet
of the Bretons.
War mentality had to be debated be-
fore the Bretons could think of validat-
ing their claims. Thus, it was only
short time ago that the Breton Auton-
onnist party came into being, under cir
cunlstances somewhat analogous to
those attending the birth of the Al
satan Autonomist party. In both parts
of France 1t was the vigorous central
izing tendency Of Paris which called
forth counter measures. The slogan of
Brittany for the Bretons" reminds one
of the Monroe Doctrinelike battlecry
of the Alsatians. and the following part
Of the Breton manifesto sounds much
like those which have been proclaimed
on the banks of the Rhine: We con-
slider Brittany" the Breton autonomists
. bay, IlOJ dS u pdIG Cl FIeIlCH
tory. but as a nation, oppressed and
enslaved, such as Poland and Ireland
were before the day of their indie
pendence"
What do the Breton insurgents want?
Are they dissatisfied with their national
allegiance, which assures them the pro-
lection Of great power, and would
they be happy under their own tattered
flag, which would make them the butt
of international intrigues?
consequences of Secession Forgotten.
The Bretons are so wrapped up in
their grievances that they seem to for
get the consequences of any such hasty
action as complete secession may en-
tail, although the extremists demand
ing independence carry no weight
either in numbers or In influence. The
majority are striving for federal state
in which the Bretons would have as
much to say as the French, the Asa
tians and the rest Of the nationalities
The grievances Of the Bretons are Of
various types. The trouble with the
schools seems to worry them more
than any other supposedly oppressive
measure of the central authorities
Why Paris should be so intent on an
Initiating their ancient Celtic Ian
guage, which survived the tyranny of
the Bourbons and of the Bonapartes,
Is a question which the Bretons are
not in a position to answer. They
complain bitterly of the campaign
carried on against the children who so
far forget themselves as to speak their
native tonguc on the school play
grounds. Tutors must not elucidate
the meaning of French words in the
language Of the children. The result
is that they leave school without know
ing either French or Breton. speaking
an appalling pstois unsubdued by