Billouin's intervention after the governor's speech illustrates how 19th century radicalism worked. He was demonstrating his familiarity with, and control over, the masses by addressing the mob. He'd been implicated in mob incitement before, in 1870, and the method (enraging the masses to riot) was used during the Water Riots, then in 1919 and later. The 1937 riots were an exception, but Eric Williams used the jamettes similarly, as did Manning, and so on and so on. Another historical misdirection is omitting to mention that the majority of black people were not on the streets in 1881. What these people wanted was evident in their social organisations. In addition to the Freemason lodges, more than 60 social organisations existed in late 19th century Trini-dad including the Foresters, Mechanics, Oddfellows, Gardeners, the Heart and Hand. They promoted Victorian ideals of citizenship and service. This urge would develop until well into the 20th century, as described in CLR James's Beyond a Boundary, until the historical accident which kicked Trinidad back into the Carnival narrative: the American occupation of the 1940s-50s.
A longer version of this, and video clips of the Canboulay reenactment, can be found on my blog,
trinidadmediaartsculture.blogspot.com