was the decree of the state, and it had the effect of making him a martyr in the eyes of the populace and bringing about the first Sacheverell riots that year in London and the rest of the country, which included attacks on Presbyterian and other Dissenter places of worship, with some being burned down. The rioting in turn led to the downfall of the government ministry later that year and the passing of the Riot Act in 1714. Progress The tide of public opinion had turned in Sacheverell's favour and the people viewed his light punishment as a deliverance for the whole Church of England. He became "the saviour of the Church and the nation's martyr-hero". From 21–23 March almost all major streets in Westminster and west London celebrated by bonfires, illuminated windows and toasts to Sacheverell and the Queen accompanied by the ringing of church bells. The Trained Bands had to be called out due to growing disturbances and in Southwark a new riot was not ended until after 30 March. Across the country there were celebrations in support for Sacheverell, with bonfires, illuminated windows and the ringing of church bells. When Sacheverell went to thank the peers who had voted for him who were still in London, "he was huzza'd by the mob like a prize-fighter". Despite the suspension from preaching, Sacheverell was presented to a living in Shropshire on 26 June 1710 as Rector of Selattyn near Oswestry by a former Cambridge student of his, Robert Lloyd, local landowner and then an M.P. for Shropshire. He held his living until 1713. Sacheverell travelled to Selattyn in June in what Holmes called "the most extraordinary Progress ever made by a private individual in Britain". Richard Steele wrote that "the anarchic fury ran so high that Harry Sacheverell swelling, and Jack Huggins laughing, marched through England in a triumph more than military". On 15 June he left London for Oxford with a cavalcade of 66 horsemen, increasing to 300 by the time he reached Uxbridge, with hundreds more when he went through Beaconsfield, High Wycombe and West Wycombe. When he reached Wheatley near Oxford, Lord Abingdon, the local MP Thomas Rowney, noblemen, Heads of Houses, the Proctors, most Oxford Fellows and others welcomed Sacheverell to Oxford University. He remained at Magdalen College for a fortnight before leaving Oxford on 1 June, taking over four weeks to reach Selattyn