Political Quotes

Edmund Burke: What sort of body is the India Company, which, coming to the verge of bankruptcy by the robbery of half the world, is…

On the record
What sort of body is the India Company, which, coming to the verge of bankruptcy by the robbery of half the world, is afterwards to subsist upon the alms of peculation and bribery, to have its strength recruited by the violation of the covenants imposed upon its own servants?
Said by
Edmund Burke

Editor's note · Context

Burke questions the legitimacy of the India Company, which relies on corruption to survive despite its history of exploitation.

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