Some sign of progress here. There is at least an implicit acknowledgement that the strictures urged against Vyse apply equally to anyone who entered politics at the time (including Wily Willy Wilberforce).

But you fail to work through the implications of your argument: that Vyse’s behaviour (like that of anyone else standing for Parliament) was shaped by specific circumstances and is therefore a poor predictor of how he might behave under other, completely different circumstances.

But really, there were no check and balances? Of course there were! All of the discoveries were (and were to be in perpetuity) subject to expert scrutiny. Vyse was surrounded by people he’d never met before, people we have no reason to assume were open to (or actively solicited) bribery. He couldn’t just do what he liked and say what he liked, even if he’d been inclined to.

M.