Page:A defence of the negro race in America from the assaults and charges of Rev. J. L. Tucker.djvu/20

 unsupported, as are the statements of himself and his endorsers, by a single item of documentary or official testimony. And "opinion," says no less an authority than, is "the admitting or receiving any proposition for true upon arguments or proof that are found to persuade us to receive it as true without certain knowledge that it is so." Or, in other words, opinion is altogether a subjective thing. But, Dr. Tucker will observe, are objective, i. e., outside of the range of imagination, conjecture, and likewise of dogmatism.

I shall not follow Dr. Tucker in his peculiar mode of setting forth his case. I yield to him a monoply of self-assertion and positiveness. Nevertheless, I shall present a few facts upon this subject which, if I do not greatly err, will lessen the weight of Dr. Tucker's cart-loads of intensity and exaggeration.

I present here statistics of the religious status of the black race in the Southern States. These statements are very imperfect. Items of considerable importance, such as baptisms, marriages, contributions, &c, are omitted, from the impossibility of securing details. I have not included the facts relating to Congregationalists, Episcopalians, Campbellites, and Lutherans. I have only taken the work of those denominations which embrace the masses of the black population.

Here, then, we have an aggregate of nigh two millions of professed disciples amid the black population of the South. Putting aside all the other items relating to their religious life and conduct, I shall confine myself to this single point of membership. What is to be said concerning