ABSTRACT
The average South German scouted it as fantastic—did not the King of Württemberg express his indignation at this "ridiculous notion" of trying to make a "so-called national unit" out of the multifarious German peoples? Even in the north a patriot of such distinction as Heinrich von Schon, one of the leading spirits in the struggle for the liberation of Prussia and of Germany, dismissed it as superfluous and unnatural. At both ends of Europe she stood guard over the most threatened outposts, constituted by the sheer necessity of the struggle for existence the champion of the whole German race. But this policy of suppression did not achieve its object; on the contrary, it was a contributing factor in strengthening and spreading the influence of the new ideal of national unity—the longing to realize all the national potentialities —especially among the younger generation. The willingness to accept Prussia's leadership was no longer so pronounced and, what is more, Austria had recovered.
