1788-Apr.: By April 1788, news of the impending parliamentary inquiry into the slave trade reached the British Caribbean colonies.

1788-Apr.: By April 1788, news of the impending parliamentary inquiry into the slave trade reached the British Caribbean colonies. In Barbados, newspapers reported the growing interest throughout Europe in the “iniquitous and inhuman traffic”. Governor John Orde of Dominica noted that the intention of bringing the subject before Parliament was already well known locally. In Jamaica, the news occasioned great alarm among the white population who feared the impending assault on their labor system. The seasonal arrival of merchant ships from Britain ensured that such information spread rapidly through port cities and plantations.