[576] The escape of Seymour only inflamed the ardour of Wharton and of Wharton's confederates.

They were determined to discover what had been done with the eighty or ninety thousand pounds of secret service money which had been entrusted to Cook by the East India Company.

Cook, who was member for Colchester, was questioned in his place; he refused to answer; he was sent to the Tower; and a bill was brought in providing that if, before a certain day, he should not acknowledge the whole truth, he should be incapable of ever holding any office, should refund to the Company the whole of the immense sum which had been confided to him, and should pay a fine of twenty thousand pounds to the Crown.

Rich as he was, these penalties would have reduced him to penury.

The Commons were in such a temper that they passed the bill without a single division.