After the reduction of Trinidad in 1797, Abercromby made Picton governor of the island. For the next 5 years he held the island with a garrison he considered inadequate against the threats of internal unrest and of reconquest by the Spanish. He ensured order by vigorous action, viewed variously as rough-and-ready justice or as arbitrary brutality. Picton was also accused of the execution of a dozen slaves. And the trade in captive humans was partly behind his considerable fortune. Historian Chris Evans said "Delinquents who were sent for immediate execution might consider themselves lucky; others had to endure mutilation and torture."