1791-Jan.-13: Renault Briollard wrote to Governor Orde of Dominica regarding the specific rumors circulating among the enslaved population on the island.

1791-Jan.-13: Renault Briollard wrote to Governor Orde of Dominica regarding the specific rumors circulating among the enslaved population on the island. He reported that slaves believed they were soon to be granted three days a week to work for themselves and would receive monetary wages for their labor. These rumors bore a striking similarity to the provisions of the Spanish cédula of 1789, suggesting a cross-imperial transmission of legal and political concepts. Briollard warned that these “expectations of freedom” were making the workforce increasingly difficult to manage. This correspondence illustrated how enslaved people synthesized information from different empires to formulate their own demands.