It was to them a miracle,
because, though perfectly in obedience to natural laws, they did not
comprehend them, and like unto all people under similar circumstances,
all in nature is a miracle which they do not understand, and cannot
satisfactorily explain. But there was no efficiency found in this, and
the trouble went forward.
The French had come among them, and taught them the value and
corrupting influence of money. Boats had ascended and descended the
Great River, and communication, through this channel, had been
established with Canada. They were grasping, by degrees, the lands,
building forts and peopling the country. They had introduced the black
man, and the wiser of the Natchez saw in the future the doom of their
race. They saw the feuds fomented between the numerous tribes along the
coast of the Mississippi by the French, and the destruction of these by
bloody wars. They saw, too, to offend the French was sure to bring
destruction upon the offending party. Their neighbors were made,
through French influence, to fall upon and destroy them. The Chickasaws
and Choctaws--great nations, having multitudes of warriors--were under
the dominion of these pale-faced intruders, and they feared they might
be turned upon them in an unsuspecting hour.
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