The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1869-03-06 00:00:00

FURTHER PARTICULARS OF THE
DESTRUCTION of the " RADETZKY."

- .
Tiwa' correspondent at Nat'l gives the foil.,ig brit f
artieulars of the Itio.sing up of the frigate halettky while
on a ends, in the eaters of Lissa :

The first intelligence of the catastrophe was received
by the naval section in the Ministry of War at Vienna
on Saturday afternoon. It came from the commander
of the island and fortress of Lissa, and was to the
effect that, according to the report of the telegraph
station, "Wellington," at Lissa, an Austrian frigate
had been blown up ten miles north-west from the
Wand, and the commander at the Caine time reported
that he had taken all measures in his power in order to
save any survivors.
In consequence telegraphic orders were sent at once
to all the naval stations in the Adriatic to send all
available help,
In the night the further information came that the
frigate blown up was the Radtt,ko, and that by the
speedy assistance rendered Ensign Barth and 22 men
of the crew had been saved, many of them more or less
wounded. The list of those saved has been published
in the official Gazette.
About the causes of the explosion only surmises can
be as yet made. The first idea was that it was owing
to the boilers. They were known to be old and con-
demned, so the infer,nce was naturaL Another version
spoke of a fire in the coal bunkers, which hai reached
the powder magazine. But these surmises are proved
to be unfounded by the information that the frigate
had been cruising under sail and not under steam at the
time of the explosion.
The explosion must, therefore, have been that of
the powder magazine. According to one accredited
version wet cartridges were being dried in the back
powder magazine, situated under the officers' mess-
room, loose dry powder was strewed about the ground,
and the workmen had orders not to enter without
putting on felt shoes; in spite of this order the men
went in in their boots, and the result was that the
loose powder ignited, and communicating the fire to
the powder magazine exploded it.
But all these are as yet but surmises, the only
account of a survivor which has reached us being that
of Quartermaster Krans, who escaped almost by a
miracle, but could give no account of the cause.
According to his report the men were at quarters; he
was busy cleaning portions of the machinery, when
he felt a shock; he let himself down the chimney
stack into the battery, and saw there the afterpart if
the ship sinking; he had presence of mind enough to
throw himself out of one of the portholes, seize hold
of a floating spar, and thus save himself.
The Radetzky was a wooden frigate of 1,826 tons,
300-horse power, and 30 guns, and had 368 men on
board, mostly recruits. The ship was on a cruise for
gunnery practice. She owed her existence to a
patriotic movement. In 1848, when Venice was
blockaded by the Austrians, two naval officers called
for a public subscription to buy a good fighting ship
for the Austrian navy which had then none but old
rotten ships. The Government completed the sum
raised by subscription, and in 1855 the frigate Radetzky,
of the class of Her Majesty's ship Trtbune, was
launched in England.
The ship, you may remember, took a prominent part
in the fight against the Daises before Heligoland in
1864. She was not engaged in the naval battle of
Llama, but most of the officers of board were, and
Captain Danfalik, who commanded, was then on board
, the snip Donau. The impression produced by the
ad catastrophe is a very painful one. Apart from the
ass, magnitude of the disaster, which is appalling the
is the navy since Lissa has become a great pet with every
taken One.

LA subscription has been opened in London to
relieve the families of the sufferers in the above explo-
sion.]

THE RITUALISTS AT PADDINGTON.
From Monday's Morn lag Star.)
It is quite clear that what is called the "Ritualistic
party" is on the increase in every district of London,
however strong may be the manifestation of dislike
towards it on the part of the great mass of the nation,
and however closely it may be identified with the prac-
tices and teachings of the Church of Rome. In the
north-west of London, the head-quarters of the
Ritualists, 38 LS well known, are to be found at the
Church of St. Mary Magdalen, Paddington, a district
the incumbency of which is in the hands of the Rev.
R. Temple West, formerly curate of All Saints',
Margaret-street. Under his auspices a temporary
' chapel, with schools underneath, has lately givi n voy
to a hands ime church, in brick and stone, standing at
the west end of Delamere.terrace, just between the
Paddington canal and Westbourne-iquare. It
is, or rather will be when finished, a lofty and
spacious structure. At present, however, only
the chancel is completed; the clerestory and one
of the aisles of the nave still remain unfinished, and
there are no signs at prevent of tower, porch, or spire.
Tile chancel, however, by reason of its great eleva-
tion, is admirably suited for a religions function. You
go up into it from the nave, by a flight of five steps,
and five more steps lead up to the base of the commu-
nion table or altar, aver which again there is a " super-
altar " of the regular Roman type, and above it a
reredos of stone, inirmoutted by a magnificent repre-
sentation at the Crucifixion, also in stone, inthe boldest
relief. In the chancel are four brass candlesticks
- two on the altar and two in front of it—' staadarda"
as they are termed. In them were yesterday still to
be seen the I ieces of candles which were once lighted,
and which, we understand, have ceased to be lit only
during this present Lent, in consequence of an official
communication or monition from the new Bishop of
London, Dr. Jackson, who thus, it would seem, is
resolved to carry out the letter as well as the spirit
of the recent judgment of Her Majesty's Privy
C nnciL
At the ritualistic churches it is the custom, as our
r aders are aware, to break up the long morning
service into two portions, the former of which they
call " matins," and the other (consisting of the c.ini-
niunion other) the "high celebration." the former
suit races simply the morning prayers, with the psalms,
lesions, and collects; this is comparatively a mere
secondary affair in their oyes, and they expend their

chief efforts in a ritualistic direction on the latter. It
is for this that they assume gorgeous vestmeuts, light
their candles, and marshal their choristers and acolytes,
a.mi walk in solemn procession, swinging incense before

them.
Well, yesterday !within:, prayers—we beg pardon,
" matins " onninen.vil at half-Is-4 ten: they were as
nearly as possible identical with the ordinary cathedral
service, just as you might hear it at Salisbury, or Nor-
wich, or Lichfield. The sermon, however, was put
into "matins," instead of taking its limper idace in the
communion service ; and after the St.llllollthe offertory
was collected in little purple bags while a hymn was
sung by the choir.
During " matins" an onlinary prayer book will
serve ass tolerable guide at these churches. especially
if it should have bound up with it a copy of " Hymns,
Ancient and Modern ;" but woe to the individual who
is weak-minded enough to tteed a "hieh celebra-
tion" there without a better guide and interpreter.
He will be able to hear the commandments, of course,
unless they are treated as Mr. Pllrell3.B used to treat
them at Brighton—namely, leave them out altogethei.
But a great part of the service is carried on in dumb
show by the " celebrant " and his "deacon" and
"sub-deacon" at the altar; and the entire office is so
interlarded with introits, graduals, antiphons, oiler-
tories. and comnaunions, some in prose and some in
verse, and gatheiel together from various sources,
including manystray versiclesfrom the Book of Psalum,
that we should not advise any Criend of our own to
attend that service without getting "Steps to the
Altar," "The Altar Manual," or some such other aid
for the uninitiated Christian.
A cianse of about ten minutes was made at the end
of the "matins," and a large part of the congregation
had time to tile out of the church at one end while
another congregation entered at the other. Many of
these crossed themselves devoutly at first, kneeling in
their places, and at certain parts of the service —as,
for instance, at the concluilinc, words of the Nicene
Creed. The long train of surpliced cherb.tens, acolytes,
and clergy, some thirty persons in all, next enter( 1 in
proceision, with a tall processional eress earned b lore
them, and found their seats on either side of the
chancel, the " celebrant " (Mr. West), with his
"deacon" and "sub-deacon" (Messrs. Foe, and Hall),
taking up their places before the alter, with their backs
to the congregation, while an introit as sung. The
clergy wore white vestments—chasubles, we imagine—
over their linen surplices; and they had on purple
stoles with little yellow crosses on them—the work of
fair hands among the congregation of St. 3lary Mag-
dalen, we may be sure. The Commandments, Epistle,
said Gospel were read in inonFtone ; and a long hymn
was interposed between the Epistle and the Gospel,
which needlessly prolonged the service. The exhor-
tation, "Measly beloved in the Lord," was omitted;
and the greater part of the service, including the
Prayer of Consecration, was read by Mr. West with
his back to the people, who the' efore could not pos-
sibly see him break the bread or bless the cup, as the
rubric would seen to desire. No extreme elevations
or genuflexions were used, so far as we could see,
nor was water mixed with the chalice. at all events
ceremonially, so that the clergy kept within
the letter of the law. One of the •.fficiating priests,
we noticed, raised the cup during the administration
much higher than the other, and connived to wave it
slightly before the eyes of each communicant, as if
endeavouring to make faintly amid surreptitiously the
sign of the cross. The communicants, it should be
added, were numerous; about thirty men, and perhaps
twice as many of the "devout female sex," went up to
the table to communicate. Soft must: was played on
the organ during the whole of the administration ; and
the " Our Father" and "Glory to God on high" were
very effectively sung by the choir and congregation.
The choristers and clergy left the church in the haute
order as that in which they had entered, the pro-
cessional cross being carried in front, tube deposited in
the vestry for a future "high celebration."