Reaction, reform and compromise together constituted ‘constructive conservatism’ and the commissions of inquiry the Colonial Office sent out into empire from 1819 to 1825 were its perfect expression. Men on the ground, impartial enough to pass judgment, but knowledgeable enough about colonial affairs to cut through the noise of local and metropolitan politics, gathered firsthand knowledge of empire. To a ministry intent on holding tight to the reins of empire, this was essential because colonial scandals risked mobilizing Parliament to intervene. But commissions were also sent to gather real information to weave Britain’s newly disparate empire together. The very act of seeking independent intelligence demonstrated an effort to build imperial policy on information of a better calibre. Both political management and genuine reform were crucial to the origins, operation and consequences of the commissions, and together explain the entangled ideology and politics of the early nineteenth-century British world.