1789-Aug./Sept.: No news from Paris reached Saint-Pierre, Martinique, during the months of August and September 1789, igniting intense local speculation.

1789-Aug./Sept.: No news from Paris reached Saint-Pierre, Martinique, during the months of August and September 1789, igniting intense local speculation. This two-month silence, coupled with a trade depression, spawned interrelated rumors regarding the impending end of slavery in the Caribbean. Residents relied on filtered reports from British newspapers that documented parliamentary debates over the slave trade in England. These external accounts led to local suspicions that the English were intentionally creating excitement among the enslaved population. Curious colonists also puzzled over the significance of the tricolored cockades appearing on the caps of arriving travelers and seamen.