urges development of inland navigation, 9;
asks Jefferson's aid, 9, 10;
lays canal scheme before Virginia legislature, 10;
his arguments, 10;
troubled by offer of stock, 11;
uses it to endow two schools, 12;
significance of his scheme, 12, 13;
his political purposes in binding West to East, 13;
willing to leave Mississippi closed for this purpose, 14, 15, 16;
feels need of firmer union during Revolution, 17;