Brigadier Thomas Hislop became
Trinidad's second military governor in 1804. Sparsely populated, the census of
the period showed a population of free persons to be 7,538, comprising 1,095
French, 505 Spanish, 663 British, and 2,256 Free Coloureds. This free coloured
population ranged from pure African to light-complexioned individuals, who
would be taken as European anywhere on that continent.
The colonial reality, however,
dictated that every black, free or enslaved, be accounted for. In terms of
their political persuasions, the free coloureds included royalist sentiment,
republican fervour, on to revolutionary zeal. Several were wealthy land and
slave owners and had been from two or even three generations, other were
artisans and labourers, some did nothing at all. Because of their history on
other islands where they had been fired by the prospects of what they imagined
republican status would mean for them, and because of their involvement in
bloody revolution from Haiti to nearby Grenada, they were held in opprobrium
and viewed with suspicion by the British administration.
It was felt that in the event of
an attack on the island by either republicans or for that matter the Spanish,
the free coloured population could not be counted upon to support British
interest. One report stated: "If the inhabitants are not controlled, untold
trouble in inevitable." It pointed out that the previous administration's
"interference in the affairs of the police has produced arrogance in the
people of colour and insubordination among the slaves". The difference in
number between white and coloured people made the Cabildo uneasy lest the
disturbances of other islands spread to Trinidad through indecisive government.
the report to the Cabildo continued:
"To relax the police when we
still have 5,000 of these people and daily increasing would be an act of moral
madness. Most of them are the scum of the revolution who find here a 'refugium
peccatorum' and against whom every precaution is necessary."
They missed "the good old days"
of Colonel Thomas Picton's governorship, which featured public executions, decapitations,
amputations, the administering of thousands of lashes in public places on any
given individual, and the exposing of severed heads and other human body parts
at public places and at the entrances of the various towns.
That Picton did not hesitate to dish
out this form of justice to the free, the enslaved, the military or the
civilians, black or white, was remarked on particularly as many of those who
had fled to the main in Picton's time were now returning to the island.
Attorney General Archibald
Gloster in writing to the Secretary of State for the Colonies, pointed out that
"Both France and Spain look at Trinidad with a jealous eye and will not
fail to take advantage of our foolishness. We are surrounded by the worst class
of coloured persons joined to French and Spanish brigands. It they attacked
with such a host of enemies within, we are lost and with us the whole
archipelago of the West Indies."
In this period, both the civilian
population and the military establishment lived in constant fear that a surprise
attack on the island might force its surrender. They had considered fortifying
St. Joseph, but abandoned that idea in favour of an older Spanish plan to turn
Chaguaramas into a formidable bastion in the style of Cartagena de los Indies
or those in Cuba. Point Gourde was selected as a military post. The islands of Carrera
and Cronstadt were also surveyed and roads cut on them.
The fortifications were built
with slave labour levied from the planters. Governor Hislop was not comfortable,
however, with this type of defense, especially as a French battlefleet was
known to be in Caribbean waters and was expected to attack Trinidad. He turned
his attention to La Vigie, now Fort George.
The island, unlike its neighbour
Tobago where there was a fort overlooking every bay and cove, had almost no defensive
armament. There were four cannons at Fort Picton in Laventille, seven cannons
at Fort Abercromby, two in Macqueripe Bay and twelve at Fort George.
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