The Primate sent his coach, and Clarendon was sworn in the same day, his head still swimming from the waves. 'I have,' he told the Council, 'the King's command to declare upon all occasions, that whatever imaginary (for they can be called no other) apprehensions any men here may have had, His Majesty hath no intention of altering the Acts of Settlement.' Tyrconnel reached London on the same day, having purposely missed the Lord Lieutenant at Holyhead, though he thought it worth while to give out that he was most anxious to meet him. 'Count Tyrconnel is come,' says a London letter, 'and kindly received as he can wish: played the devil on the road for horses.'[143] [Sidenote: Revocation of the Edict of Nantes.] Just before Clarendon's departure for Ireland, the French King took a step which profoundly affected the history of Europe, and of England and Ireland particularly. After having long been shamelessly infringed, the Edict of Nantes was formally revoked in October 1685. The Protestant Chapel at Charenton was pulled down by the mob of Paris. It was pretended that there were no longer any heretics in France, and that therefore the law which still partly protected them, was no longer necessary. In official correspondence, the reformed faith was known as the R.P.R. (religion prétendue réformée). Thousands conformed insincerely, but a vast number preferred expatriation at the risk of their lives, and carried their industry, their skill, and some of their capital into Holland, Germany, and England. The tale which these refugees had to tell fell upon no deaf ears, and great sums were subscribed for their relief, but James II. took care that as many as possible should remain unrelieved. The newspapers and gazettes controlled by the Court were silent on the subject of the persecutions, but private letters of news got into print, and the appearance of the fugitives in person was more eloquent than any article. The King could not prevent a great collection in their favour, but he directed that no one should benefit by it who would not take the Anglican sacramental test. Sincere French Calvinists were thus excluded from relief. This was the period of his reign when James, deceived by the slavish doctrines of some High Church divines, thought it possible to be a despot with the help of the Established Church. When he found that there were limits to what that Church would bear, he turned to the Nonconformists in the name of religious liberty. After the failure of his schemes, the victorious Protestants were guilty of grievous persecution, but they remembered that James was the ally of the King who had ruthlessly destroyed the religious liberties of his own subjects.[144] [Sidenote: Refugees from France and Ireland.] [Sidenote: James attacks the Church establishment.]