18 MARCH 1899, Page 2

The Vienna correspondent of the Times continues to regard the

secession of the German Catholics in Austria to Pro- testantism as important. He says the agitation in Styria goes on with "intense activity," and is extending from the towns to the country districts. The required number of ten thousand is said to be nearly reached, and when it is attained a great and dramatic secession of crowds at once will be arranged. The correspondent adds the curious though detached fact that in Baden the proportion of Protestants has risen in twenty years from 34 per cent. to 39 per cent. of the population, and thinks that men who have lost their faith now call themselves Protestant. It must be remembered that Baden with its Liberal Government attracts Protestant emigrants, and also that in Austria ten thousand persons is not a great number; but, nevertheless, the move. meat is a remarkable one. It shows a tide on the turn.