While Harrison claims our high sympathies for
the efforts he had made to carry out his glorious
visions of Righteousness and Peace, he must bear the
blame of having been the man above all others whose
policy indirectly caused the anarchy of 1659 and
1660, and thus precipitated a blind Restoration which



280 Conclusion

fell under the guidance of the Reactionaries. It was
not Cromwell's fault that the plans of Harrison failed ;
he did not surrender them till he found himself with
the support of only a few enthusiasts, and confronted
with all the forces new and old which had grown up
in England. And because the opposition was so
strong, and probably because his plans were not in
harmony with the conditions and opinions of the time,
Harrison did not add to the happiness of his fellow
Englishmen. He had expected too much of the
nation ; ordinary human nature could not bear the
strain of a self devotion such as his ; and therefore when
the time of trial came, most of his followers fell away
from him, and could not face the dangers and
afflictions which he so gallantly encountered.
One accusation against the general must not be
passed over ; he was accused of building up a private
fortune out of the disasters of the Royalists. The
truth of this cannot altogether be denied : he received
large sums from the Long Parliament, and rejoiced
in the riches which enabled him to carry out his
love of display ; but all this love of display vanished
in the trials and persecutions of his later life, till at last
he grew to be serenely confident that sorrow and
trouble were his only inheritance.
