200 Magazine #11 May 1823 / 2023

The final edition of 200 reported that Lord Byron was backing the cause of Greek independence from Muslim Ottoman rule, that invading French troops had reached Madrid, and that there were new fears about the health of King George.

At Westminster, the House of Commons was stunned into silence after the Foreign Secretary, George Canning, accused senior Whig Henry Brougham of lying. But order was restored after almost an hour and fears that the two might fight a duel came to nothing.

The magazine reported that a new ‘railway’ linking Stockton, Darlington and the collieries of Co. Durham would be allowed to carry members of the public and use ‘locomotive’ engines to pull carriages. (It will open in 1825.) In Ireland, a new ‘Catholic Association’ was to lead a campaign to remove restrictions that stopped Catholics becoming MPs. In Scotland, troops had to be called in to end rioting in Stirling and save two men accused of body-snatching from being lynched.