Richard Harding Davis in “Three Gringos in Venezuela and Central America” gives the following instance of the varying fortunes of revolutionists: “I saw an open grave by the roadside which had been dug by the man who was to have occupied it. The man who dug this particular grave had been captured, with two companions, while they were hastening to rejoin their friends of the government party. His companions in misery were faint-hearted creatures, and thought it mattered but little, so long as they had to die, in what fashion they were buried. So they scooped out a few feet of earth with the tools their captors gave them, and stood up in the hollows they had made, and were shot back into them, dead; but the third man declared that he was not going to let his body lie so near the surface of the earth that the mules could kick his bones and the next heavy freshet wash them away. He accordingly dug leisurely and carefully to the depth of six feet, smoothing the sides and sharpening the corners. While he was thus engaged at the bottom of the hole, he heard shots and yells above him, and when he poked his head up over the edge of the grave he saw his own troops running down the mountain-side and his enemies disappearing before them.”
Honduras has perhaps suffered more from revolutionary disturbances than any of the other Central American republics. Bordering as she does on all these states, except Costa Rica, she has not only had to contend with her own troubles but has been the helpless and unwilling battleground for contentions between Nicaragua on the one side and San Salvador or Guatemala on the other. Weaker than any of these her own government has often been dictated by one or more of her more powerful neighbours. With all the machinery of a republic and with an excellent constitution and laws on paper, a change of rulers is usually effected by a revolution as that seems to be the only way the will of the people can be determined. They are sometimes almost bloodless as two armies manœuvre around until one decides it is weaker than the other and takes to flight. Selfish partisanship too often passes for patriotism, and the leaders are only too willing to plunge the country into war to gain the spoils of office for themselves and their followers.