 Whitehall in England announced in 1833 that slaves in its territories would be totally freed by 1840.In the meantime, the government told slaves they had to remain on their plantations and would have the status of "apprentices" for the next six years.In Port-of-Spain, Trinidad, on 1 August 1834, an unarmed group of mainly elderly Negroes being addressed by the Governor at Government House about the new laws, began chanting