Cromwell rejected all Lilburne's proposals; for him affairs of State were too serious for experiments in democracy; and Lilburne himself was cast into prison by the Commonwealth Government.
Lilburne's pamphlets were exceedingly numerous, and his popularity, in London particularly, enormous.

He was the voice of the unrepresented, powerless citizens in whom the republican theorists saw the centre of authority.

The one effort to persuade the Commonwealth Republic to give power to the people was made by John Lilburne, and it was defeated.

The Whig theory that an aristocratic House of Commons, elected by a handful of people, and mainly at the dictation of the landowners, was "the People," triumphed.

The bulk of the English people were left out of all account in the political struggles of Whigs and Tories, and democracy was not dreamed of till America was free and France a republic.