The Progress of Fifty Years.
By Uriah Smith
The great awakening of the human intellect, and the wonderful advancements in the arts of civilization that have been made within the last fifty years, the very time of which the prophet Daniel wrote when he said that many should run to and fro and knowledge should be increased, were stated by Wendell Phillips at the Boston Tea Party, Dec. 16, 1873, in the following language. This party was held to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the throwing overboard of the tea in Boston Harbor, Dec. 16, 1773, the initial step of the Revolution. Mr. Phillips said:— “And I think, Mr. President, another thing: The tea-spillers of 1773 elaborated the blessing that made us a nation, and within the last hundred years there has been a growth of material prosperity such as five centuries before could not show, and in my opinion three centuries to come will not exhibit to us. We have the gas and the telegraph, and the lavish application of steam, and the ever-present organizations of wealth, developing production, cheapening production, facilitating production, beyond all measurement. These four great agencies within fifty years have hurled the world forward a leap such as it never made in three hundred years, and probably will not make in that channel for two centuries to come.”