VACATION SPEECHES.- BUFFALO.

MR. HIBBARD, MR. PRESIDENT AND GENTLEMEN OF THE BOARD OF TRADE,I recognize in you, not merely the members of an important commercial body; not merely the business men of the noble city of Buffalo, but the representatives of that great system of intercommunication by which the products of the fertile and distant West and the populous East are exchanged, the common agents of those great communities which occupy the northern section of our continent. The expense of conveying food to the consumer is often greater than the original cost of raising it. Whatever, therefore, cheapens transportation, adds to the productiveness of human labor as much as increased fertility of the soil or increased geniality of the climate. Standing here in Buffalo and turning the eye into the Far West, we behold a series of lakes, forming the finest inland navigation that ministers to the wants of man, which, if stretched out in a line, would extend more than half the voyage from New York to Liverpool. On the east, by the Erie Canal and the placid waters of the Hudson, the system is extended five hundred miles to the harbor of New York. On the west it is connected, by a complicated system of railways, with every minute part of that most magnificent area of virgin soils which has been the theatre of the arts and industries of civilized life, — a region in which Nature has poured out her blessings with boundless prodigality, and which is destined to be the seat of many millions of prosperous and happy people. Taken together, this system is as long in its whole extent as the track across the ocean

the ocean from the Old World to the New. Consider, my fellow-citizens, on what a grand scale the interests and business of our country are organized. Shall we protect the Erie Canal, which forms one of the most important lines of this system, from spoliation? That is the question for the business men of Buffalo to consider. You came down to Albany last winter and asked for a reduction of tolls. Ever-anxious to cheapen the cost of transportation and transit, when I came to look into the question, with a desire to carry out your wishes, I found you were confronted by a body more numerous and more powerful than yourselves,-the taxpayers of the rural districts of this State, not immediately benefited by the canals, in respect to whom the burdens of taxation had become nearly unendurable, and were bearing with more oppressive severity every day. I ventured, therefore, gentlemen, in my Special Message of March 18, to suggest a plan which I thought would harmonize the various interests at stake. I found there were abuses and maladministration, frauds and peculation, which not only consumed the entire surplus revenues of the Erie Canal, but burdened our taxpayers with more than two millions a year, levied by taxes, under pretence of improving the public works. I proposed, therefore, that we should, on the one hand, reduce the tolls to the extent of five or six hundred thousand dollars, and, on the other, remit a million and three quarters of taxes. Six months have elapsed, and the fruits of that controversy have secured you the reduction of the tolls you asked for, and remitted to the taxpayers two and three quarter millions of the burdens imposed on them last year.

I propose to you to-day, gentlemen, that we should continue this policy. If the people of this State will send to the next session of the legislative bodies representatives who will honestly co-operate in this great work, I here to-day promise them and promise you that, whereas we reduced the taxes last year from seven and a quarter to six mills, next year we will put them down to four and a half, and even four mills. Afterward they can be reduced still lower. You commercial men of

Buffalo have not only the common interest which every taxpayer has, but also the special advantage of further enfranchising trade and improving the means by which it is carried on. We shall save a fund large enough to answer every object of this description, and go forward and make this great and noble State and its institutions all that it has a right and is destined by Providence to become. I know, gentlemen, that attempts have been made to discourage the people in this great work. We have been told that nothing has been accomplished; that nothing can be; and that the people are to remain bound with withes, to be the prey of those who consume the fruits of taxation. In answer, I point to the practical results of six months of reform. What are they?

First, we have wounded and crushed a system of abuse, maladministration, fraud, and peculation that has fattened upon the public works, the transporter, the consumer, and the taxpayer. And if the people of this State are true to themselves, that system, once broken, will never be revived. In the second place, there has been enacted a series of laws to bring to account the public agents and official persons and punish their malversations, the efficacy of which, if faithfully administered by the courts, will soon be seen. In the third place, we have reduced the tolls and remitted the taxes to the large extent I have mentioned. In the fourth place, measures have been instituted to hold to account the public plunderers. These measures have been taken as early and as rapidly as possible, and are going on to consummation. I am glad, myself, to be reproached for being too slow. I have been as fast as I could, and have given all my time to your service; but I rejoice to be reproached for being too slow, because it indicates to me that the people are impatient to consummate the great reform.

Fifth, and lastly, gentlemen, there is something higher, more important, more noble, more deeply concerning human society than even these material advantages. We have lifted the standard of public and official morality in the country; we have awakened a sense of justice and duty in the people; and are

rousing public opinion to demand better government and purer administration everywhere. Gentlemen, the cause will not fail. In the last session it was often betrayed, sometimes defeated, and generally obstructed; but it will go on to a complete triumph, which will be a blessing to the whole of these five millions of people who live within the jurisdiction of this State. Whoever shall dare to obstruct or oppose it, or stand in its way, will fall, not to rise again. I know there are men of selfish interests who have not yet learned that the old age has gone out and the new age has come in. There are public men seeking popular favor who still think that the way to success and honor is to combine selfish interests, to pile Canal Ring upon Tweed Ring, and so rule the people of this free State. According to the measure of my ability, I humbly represent the common sense of the people of this State, the farmers, the mechanics, the laborers, the men of business, the moral sense and purpose of the community against its selfish and fraudulent interests. Now, men of Buffalo, I ask you to-day to consider what is to be your part in this work? While about your various callings and industries, you leave the government to take care of itself, and men who mean to make money by plundering you, give their nights and days to study out the methods; they are always at conventions and caucuses; they go to the Legislature, and while you are reposing in fancied safety, are plotting against your interest and rights. If you will permit me to offer a suggestion, I do not assume to advise, I only say that when bad men combine, good men should unite. And if you will be as earnest, and determined, and persistent in demanding that the right shall be done, politicians will court your favor, and not the favor of the Canal Ring or any other Ring. What concern have you by what name a man is called who goes to Albany to misrepresent your interests and duties? Is it any satisfaction to a Republican that that man is called a Republican, or to a Democrat that he is called a Democrat? Does it make any difference what livery he wears to serve the devil in? I say you have but to assert your

rights, and they will be respected; and when the parties to which you belong come to make their nominations, if there be on the tickets any one not true to you, you have but to exercise the reserved right of the American citizen, -to vote for somebody else.

Gentlemen, I avail myself of this occasion to thank the Board of Trade for their kind invitation, and the citizens of Buffalo generally for the prodigal hospitalities that have been bestowed on me during the two days I have been visiting my friend Lieutenant-Governor Dorsheimer, who is about to take up his temporary residence in Albany. I thank you for your kindness to me, which I ascribe not so much to myself personally as to the cause which I serve.