Germanism had so far served as the basis of the Austrian system, not as a national ideal, but because " it formed a sort of unnational mediating, and common element among the contradictory and clamorous racial tendencies."
But with the growth of the idea of German unity, Germanism had established a new ideal, of which the centre lay beyond the boundaries of the Austrian monarchy, and which was bound to be antagonistic to the aspirations of other races.
The Jacobinism of the Vienna democracy was not really representative of any widespread opinion even in the German parts of Austria, while its loud-voiced Germanism excited the lively opposition of the other races.
The parliament at Frankfort hailed Windischgratz as a national hero, and offered to send troops to his aid; the German revolutionists in Vienna welcomed every success of Radetzky's arms in Italy as a victory for Germanism.
These place him in the sacred circle near to Heine and Leopardi, and, though strongly individualistic, it is curious to note in them the influence of Germanism on the mind of a southerner and a descendant of the Catholic navigators of the 16th century.
