England,
however, was in a nervous state of mind; Charles II was known to
be intriguing with France; and a cruel fury surged through the
nation. For a share in the supposed plots, a score of people,
among them one of the great nobles of England, the venerable and
innocent Earl of Stafford, were condemned to death and executed.
Whatever Charles II himself might have thought, he was obliged
for his own safety to acquiesce in the policy of persecution.
Catholic France was not less malignant than Protestant England.
Though cruel severity had long been shown to Protestants, they
seemed to be secure under the law of France in certain limited
rights and in a restricted toleration. In 1685, however, Louis
XIV revoked the Edict of Nantes by which Henry IV a century
earlier had guaranteed this toleration. All over France there had
already burst out terrible persecution, and the act of Louis XIV
brought a fiery climax. Unhappy heretics who would not accept
Roman Catholic doctrine found life intolerable. Tens of thousands
escaped from France in spite of a law which, though it exiled the
Protestant ministers, forbade other Protestants to leave the
country.
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