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HARRINGTON, or HARINGTON, JAMES (16'1...

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Originally appearing in Volume V13, Page 19 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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HARRINGTON, or See also:HARINGTON, See also:JAMES (16'1-'677)  , See also:English See also:political philosopher, was See also:born in See also:January '611 of an old See also:Rutland-See also:shire See also:family . He was son of See also:Sir Sapcotes See also:Harrington of See also:Rand, See also:Lincolnshire, and See also:great-See also:nephew of the first See also:Lord See also:Harington of Exton (d.'6'5) . In 1629 he entered Trinity See also:College, See also:Oxford, as a See also:gentleman commoner . One of his tutors was the famous See also:Chillingworth . After several years spent in travel, and as a soldier in the Dutch See also:army, he returned to See also:England and lived in retirement till 1646, when he was appointed to the See also:suite of See also:Charles I., at that See also:time being conveyed from See also:Newcastle as prisoner . Though republican in his ideas, Harrington won the See also:king's regard and esteem, and accompanied him to the Isle of See also:Wight . He roused, however, the suspicion of the parliamentarians and was dismissed: it is said that he was for a See also:short time put in confinement because he would not swear to refuse assistance to the king should he See also:attempt to See also:escape . After Charles's See also:death Harrington devoted his time to the See also:composition of his Oceana, a See also:work which pleased neither party . By See also:order of See also:Cromwell it was seized when passing through the See also:press . Harrington, how-ever managed to secure the favour of the See also:Protector's favourite daughter, Mrs Claypole; the work was restored to him, and appeared in 1656, dedicated to Cromwell . The views embodied in Oceana, particularly that bearing on See also:vote by See also:ballot and rotation of magistrates and legislators, Harrington and others (who in 1659 formed a See also:club called the " See also:Rota ") endeavoured to push practically, but with no success . In See also:November 1661, by order of Charles II., Harrington was arrested, apparently without sufficient cause, on a See also:charge of See also:conspiracy, and was thrown into the See also:Tower .

Despite his repeated See also:

request no public trial could be obtained, and when at length his sisters obtained a See also:writ of habeas corpus he was secretly removed to St See also:Nicholas See also:Island off See also:Plymouth . There his See also:health gave way owing to his drinking See also:guaiacum on medical See also:advice, and his mind appeared to be affected . Careful treatment restored him to bodily vigour, but his mind never wholly recovered . After his See also:release he married,—at what date does not seem to be precisely known . He died on the filth of See also:September 1677, and was buried next to Sir See also:Walter See also:Raleigh in St See also:Margaret's, See also:Westminster . Harrington's writings consist of the Oceana, and of papers, See also:pamphlets, aphorisms, even See also:treatises, in See also:defence of the Oceana . The Oceana is a hard, prolix, and in many respects heavy exposition of an ideal constitution, " Oceana " being England, and the lawgiver Olphaus Megaletor, See also:Oliver Cromwell . The details are elaborated with See also:infinite care, even the salaries of officials being computed, but the See also:main ideas are two in number, each with a See also:practical corollary . The first is that the determining See also:element of See also:power in a See also:state is See also:property generally, property in See also:land in particular; the second is that the executive power ought not to be vested for any considerable time in the same men or class of men . In accordance with the first of these, Harrington re-commends an agrarian See also:law, limiting the portion of land held to that yielding a See also:revenue of £3000, and consequently insisting on particular modes of distributing landed property . As a practical issue of the second he See also:lays down the See also:rule of rotation by ballot . A third See also:part of the executive or See also:senate are voted out by ballot every See also:year (not being capable of being elected again for three years) .

Harrington explains very carefully how the state and its governing parts are to be constituted by his See also:

scheme . Oceana contains many valuable ideas, but it is irretrievably dull . His See also:Works were edited with See also:biography by See also:John See also:Toland in 1700; Toland's edition, with additions by See also:Birch, appeared in 1747, and again in 1771 . Oceana was reprinted by See also:Henry See also:Morley in 1887 . See See also:Dwight in Political See also:Science Quarterly (See also:March, 1887) . Harrington has often been confused with his See also:cousin Sir See also:James Harrington, a member of the See also:commission which tried Charles I., and afterwards excluded from the acts of See also:pardon .

End of Article: HARRINGTON, or HARINGTON, JAMES (16'1-'677)
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