As he was about to kneel, the King took him by the hand
and pulled him in. For a few days lie was left with the King, but an
oath was required of him that he would not assist in, or conceal
knowledge of any attempt to procure, the King's escape. He would
not take the oath; and was this time not only dismissed from the
King's service but himself imprisoned, until Ireton obtained his
release. Before the King's death, Harrington found his way to him
again, and he was among those who were with Charles I upon the
scaffold.
After the King's execution, Harrington was for some time secluded
in his study. Monarchy was gone; some form of commonwealth
was to be established; and he set to work upon the writing of
"Oceana," calmly to show what form of government, since men
were free to choose, to him seemed best.
He based his work on an opinion he had formed that the troubles
of the time were not due wholly to the intemperance of faction, the
misgovernment of a king, or the stubbornness of a people, but to
change in the balance of property; and he laid the foundations of
his commonwealth in the opinion that empire follows the balance
of property. Then he showed the commonwealth of Oceana in
action, with safeguards against future shiftings of that balance, and
with a popular government in which all offices were filled by men
chosen by ballot, who should hold office for a limited term.
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