plead for his accomplice; but his effrontery only injured the cause which he defended.578 In the Upper House the bill was condemned in the strongest terms by the Duke of Leeds.  Pressing his hand on his heart, he declared, on his faith, on his honour, that he had no personal interest in the question, and that he was actuated by no motive but a pure love of justice.  His eloquence was powerfully seconded by the tears and lamentations of Cook, who, from the bar, implored the Peers not to subject him to a species of torture unknown to the mild laws of England.  “Instead of this cruel bill,” he said, “pass a bill of indemnity; and I will tell you all.”  The Lords thought his request not altogether unreasonable.  After some communication with the Commons, it was determined that a joint committee of the two Houses should be appointed to inquire into the manner in which the secret service money of the East India Company had been expended; and an Act was rapidly passed providing that, if Cook would make to this committee a true and full discovery, he should be indemnified for the crimes which he might confess; and that, till he made such a discovery, he should remain in the Tower.  To this arrangement Leeds gave in public all the opposition that he could with decency give.  In private those who were conscious of guilt employed numerous artifices for the purpose of averting inquiry.  It was whispered that things might come out which every good Englishman would wish to hide, and that the greater part of the enormous sums which had passed through Cook’s hands had been paid to Portland for His Majesty’s use.  But the Parliament and the nation were determined to know the truth, whoever might suffer by the disclosure.579

As soon as the Bill of Indemnity had received the royal assent, the joint committee, consisting of twelve lords and twenty-four members of the House of Commons, met in the Exchequer Chamber.  Wharton was placed in the chair; and in a few hours great discoveries were made.

The King and Portland came out of the inquiry with unblemished honour.  Not only had not the King taken any part of the secret service money dispensed by Cook; but he had not, during some years, received even the ordinary present which the Company had, in former reigns, laid annually at the foot of the throne.  It appeared that not less than fifty thousand pounds had been offered to Portland, and rejected.  The money lay during a whole year ready to be paid to him if he should change his mind.  He at length told those who pressed this immense bribe on him, that if they persisted in insulting him by such an offer, they would make him an enemy of their Company.  Many people wondered at the probity which he showed on this occasion, for he was generally thought interested and grasping.  The truth seems to be that he loved money, but that he was a man of strict integrity and honour.  He took, without scruple, whatever he thought that he could honestly take, but was incapable