e hope that the marquis would use his
interest in expediting the passage of the Bill, and that this hope had
been realised. On the other hand it was shown that when the marquis learnt
that one of the conditions of the lease was that he should "covenant" to
procure an Act of Parliament for settling some doubts of title to the land
conveyed, he at once declared that such a thing was not in his power, but
lay with the king, the lords and the commons; nevertheless, he consented
to use his best endeavours in that direction. The marquis, it was said,
had also been indiscreet enough to divulge certain proceedings of the
House of Lords in the matter of the Convex Lights, and this formed the
subject of an investigation by the House at the same time as the granting
of this lease. After careful consideration the House entirely acquitted
his lordship of blame in both cases.(1823)

(M913)

In considering the City's action in respect of the Orphans' Bill we must
not forget to take into account the condition of the age. It was one in
which peculation and venality were predominant. Nearly every official who
was worth the buying could be bought, and the world thought none the worse
of him provided that these pecuniary transactions were kept decently
veiled. The "gifts and rewards" bestowed by the City with the object of
expediting the passage of the Orphans' Bill were as nothing compared with
the vast sums which the East India Company was reported to have disbursed
in order to obtain the confirmation of its charter. It was the practice
when Sir Thomas Cook was in power for the directors of the company to sign
warrants for any sum that he might require without demanding particulars
from him. In seven years (1688-1694) more than L100,000 had been disposed
of for the company's "special service," nearly L90,000 of which had been
disbursed whilst Cook was governor (1692-1693).(1824)

(M914)

A parliamentary committee endeavoured to obtain some account as to how
this large sum of money had been expended, but could learn nothing more
than that it had been spent on the "special service" of the company and
that a great part of it had been entrusted to Sir Basil Firebrace.(1825)
Firebrace denied this, but confessed to having received upwards of L16,000
for which he had accounted to the company. The committee's report
proceeded to inform the House that the company had spent considerable sums
of money, under the guise of contracts, in buying up