DON GUILLERMO HARTNELL + Captain Beechey ‘considered it natural’ that Californian ‘artists and mothers, should not be bloodthirsty, since their province was creation’

+++  …”Even the national musical instrument, the guitar, has fallen into neglect, and has been supplanted by the English pianoforte.’  ++  The satire in these words did not escape Hartnell.  Both he and Beechey, through study and travel, had become citizens of the world, rather than insular Englishmen.  With regret, each recognized the creeping disease of mediocrity in the spread of standardized machine products, following after Anglo-Saxon salesmanship all over the world.  ++  The young men agreed that guitar-playing served a purpose in keeping ‘paisanos’ out of mischief during idle hours.  However, both were willing to admit stern moments in history when preoccupation with the arts of peace can prove disastrous.  Beechey recalled an incident of the Portuguese fleeing from defeat in battle, leaving 14,000 guitars upon the field.  And Hartnell could remember how the softhearted Chileans would not allow Lord Cochrane to practice his “secret war plan” against the Peruvians, thereby prolonging the war of independence for several years.  Italy, the birthplace of so many musicians and painters, has shown a similar aversion to real warfare.  And California’s battles during the revolutionary period (following shortly after Beechey’s final visit) were also to assume a comic-opera character.  Captain Beechey, like all other travelers of the time, commented on the Californians’ constant preoccupation with guitar-playing, serenading, singing, and dancing, besides raising large families.  He and Hartnell considered it natural that such people, artists and mothers, should not be bloodthirsty, since their province was creation.  ++  The British officer had a high opinion of William Hartnell as a civilized and useful fellow.  The following letter of recommendation he wrote “To His Britannic Majesty’s Consul General” in Mexico City, from “His Majesty’s Ship Blossom, Monterey 4th January 1827″:  …  +++