16 



CENTRAL AMERICA. 



better, but with a little more method in their 

 general conduct. 



Leon, being the capital of the province of 

 Nicaragua and head-quarters for the troops, 

 may contain fifty thousand inhabitants and 

 about three hundred dissolute soldiers; and 

 it is by this mere handful of ruffians, or 

 rather by a portion of them, that revolutions 

 are effected. A subaltern officer gains over 

 a portion of the men, with promises of plun- 

 der, increased pay, and promotion for the 

 non-commissioned officers to the commissions 

 soon to be vacant. They await the time 

 when the barrack-guard and sentries will be 

 all composed of the men so gained over. 

 The barracks are then taken possession of in 

 the night, the commandant's house stormed 

 and plundered, and the next morning a few 

 volleys of musketry make the people ac- 

 quainted with the fact that their late com- 

 mandant and his adherents have been placed 

 on the fatal " Banqueta," * and have made 

 vacancies for the successful rebels, who may 

 most likely be destined to suffer the lex 

 talionis within a very few months. 



Armed parties are then sent round to 



* The seat upon which prisoners are placed when 

 about to be shot. 



