I always assumed we are only hearing Babbage's side without the context of the question. Was this part of a series of questions presented to Babbage trying to h

I always assumed we are only hearing Babbage's side without the context of the question. Was this part of a series of questions presented to Babbage trying to help him along in almost a Socratic method to understand the Parliament's hesitation? Knowing that most politicians of that era discussed 'to whose benefit' and 'for what purpose' when most of the upper class were landed gentry, it would be most likely affecting a whole new sector of the economy they didn't understand. How would this machine be used for Law? Could it help the homeless? War widows? Managing pensions? I presume the question could also be directed at whether the machine would require a specially trained operator and thus more funding or whether anyone skilled in the Arts and the Trades could work the machine efficiently without oversight or much necessary direction. Given the machine was a whole new step and direction of the economy, I can understand their hesitation. A computer without a program, while brilliant, is useless.