When day dawned on Friday August 1, 1834, Port-of-Spain was thrown into a state of turmoil such as it had never known before. Thousands of slaves from estates all over Trinidad crowded into the town to protest their new status "Apprenticeship," which was not much different from slavery.

They had been looking forward to complete freedom but on the very eve of Emancipation Day, the authorities had refused to set them free. The governor himself, Sir George Fitzgerald Hill, had gone to the estates to warn them that they were not to leave their former masters who, he said, were to become their employers from Emancipation Day, August 1^st.

The governor told them that from August 1^st they would be apprentices, because the King had decided they had to learn to look after themselves. Therefore, the governor had said, they would have to work for their masters six more years before being free.

On Emancipation Day the angry slaves entered Port-of-Spain by what was known as the St Joseph Road, and they assembled in front of Government House - premises which then occupied the upper floor of the old Treasury and Rum Bond building, site of the present-day Treasury. To the east of this building was St Vincent Street, to the west lay the Gulf of Paria and immediately to the south was King Street, today Independence Square North.

At that time, in front of King Street was the huge St Vincent wharf bounded on the east by St Vincent Street which ran on to South Quay where it met the Gulf of Paria. To the north the Gulf washed the shores of a fishing village known as Corbeau Town. The scene remained just like this until the early years of the 20^th century.

When on Emancipation Day, August 1^st, 1834 Governor George Fitzgerald Hill saw the 'apprentices' storming into the town he called out the militia. The 'apprentices,' in noisy and rebellious mood, were not cowed. There was consternation on the part of what was called 'the respectable class,' and a few of these people armed themselves and went out onto the streets.

It was a rainy day, that Friday, but the rain did not cool the fury of those determined 'apprentices,' just as the militia did not frighten them. They stood in the rain crying "Pas de six ans! Pas de six ans!" (French for "No six years!") They cried out that the King intended them to be free and that the system of apprenticeship was a conspiracy between the government and the planters. They said they came to demand full liberty and threatened insurrection if they did not get it.

They milled around Government House as the militia stood on the alert and the town on the edge of a rebellion. Major Capadose, the officer in charge of the British troops at the St James Barracks regarded the situation as tense, and was ready to intervene. The thousands of 'apprentices' milled around Government House for hours, until at length, Governor George Fitzgerald Hill appeared on the balcony and tried to quieten the crowd. He attempted to explain what apprenticeship was and how it was meant to assist the former slaves to prepare for freedom. But the slaves would not listen to that and they jeered him and hooted him down. Excitement mounted and the militia all but opened fire.

Still the 'apprentices' continued their noisy protest and it was not until nightfall that they began drifting away from Government House and from the town. But they did not go back to their estates. They simply cleared out to the east of the town, to what was called 'the police lines' - for they were not allowed to remain in the town after dark.

(The police lines marked the area east of the Dry River, regarded as being outside the town).

The slaves returned to Port-of-Spain the next day and the protest grew noisier and even more threatening. The situation looked explosive when Governor Hill, who was inspecting the Special Guards he called out to help preserve the peace, was reportedly being followed by a threatening crowd. When the militia moved in to make arrests the situation got out of control. There were brawls and scuffles.

A number of 'apprentices' were arrested, tried, and sentenced on the spot, and as these were led off to the Royal Jail the crowd hurled abuses at the authorities.

(Incidentally that Royal Jail is the same one which exists on Frederick Street today. That part of Frederick Street was then known as Clarence Street).

In response to the abuses hurled by the crowd the picket guards charged to clear the streets ad the 'apprentices' fled, only to collect again in knots in different parts of the town.

A reporter from the Port-of-Spain Gazette wrote: "The magistrates proceeded to sit for the trial of the offenders, and 17 of the most prominent ringleaders were tried, condemned to stripes (flogging) and hard labour At five o'clock these men were escorted to the jail under an escort of cavalry and it was hoped that the apprentices would be thus convinced that punishment awaited them and would disperse, but it only excited them, and part of the mob followed the escort to the ail, encouraging the prisoners not to mind their punishment, and avowing their determination to submit not only to punishment but to death itself rather than return to work."

The tumultuous situation continued all day that Saturday.

However, the following day, Sunday, Port-of-Spain presented a different picture, for the 'apprentices, who had had to retire beyond the police lines on Saturday evening, did not come back to the town.

But on Monday chaos returned, with thousands storming back into Port-of-Spain. Once again there was violent confrontation by the militia, and a number of people were arrested, tried on the spot and sentenced to jail and public flogging. Some were whipped in Marine Square - Independence Square today. But still the protesters returned.

At length, though, the spirit of the determined 'apprentices' was crushed, and by the next Friday, the Port-of-Spain Gazette could say: We are happy to say that tranquillity has been restored in Port-of-Spain and that the accounts from the various districts throughout the island are satisfactory. There are, here and there, estates where gangs are still absent, and others which, although the apprentices are on the property, they refuse to work. But these are solitary instances and not sufficiently numerous to give any uneasiness.

Eventually, the rest of the apprentices who had remained in Port-of-Spain made their way back out of the town. But they did not return to the estates. They joined the rest who had camped out behind the police lines, some in the area of Belmont pasture - a pasture named after a former Government House situated where the Hilton hotel is today - and some further to the south to the area behind the Dry River. These protesting 'apprentices' eventually formed the districts known today as Belmont and East Dry River.

Their protest from Emancipation day, Friday August 1^st, to the following Thursday, had borne no fruit, for the government did not yield. But they did not resign themselves to remain apprentices until 1840. They constantly showed their anger and never again settled down to plantation work.

At the same time a similar situation in the smaller islands forced the Houses of Assembly there to reduce the Apprenticeship term to four years instead of six, and so complete freedom was to come there in 1838. But in Trinidad, Governor Sir George Fitzgerald Hill pleaded that since Trinidad was a Crown Colony - that is, ruled directly from London he had no power to reduce the six-year term of Apprenticeship imposed by the British parliament.

But didn't he? In July 1838, as events drew towards a complete abolition in the smaller islands, matters became so tense in Trinidad that the island seemed on the brink of insurrection. Governor Sir George Fitzgerald Hill maintained that he could do nothing, and that the 'apprentices' would have to wait two more years until 1840. But the situation became so explosive that on July 25^th, in that year 1838, with just one week to go before complete abolition in the smaller islands, Governor Hill called an emergency session of the Council of Government. He had drafted a special proclamation and was seeking urgent approval of it. He read the proclamation to the 10-member Council of Government, and a motion calling for approval was put to the vote.

Five members voted for the proclamation and five against and the Governor used his casting vote to make the proclamation law.

The proclamation said:

Be it therefore enacted and it is hereby enacted and ordained by his Excellency, the Right Honourable George Fitzgerald Hill by and with the advice and consent of the Council of Government thereof, and with the authority of the same, that all persons who on the First day of August 1838 shall be in a state of apprenticeship as Praedial Apprenticed labourers shall upon and from and after the First day of August 1838, become and be to all intents and purposes whatsoever, absolutely and forever manumitted and set free.

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