PITTSBURGH, June 1, 1853.

FREDERICK DOUGLASS, ESQ., DEAR SIR:—I see in your paper of the 27th inst., a Call
of the colored people for a National Conven
tion; and I do rejoice to learn that the col
ored people of the East have awakened up
and now see the necessity of acting for them
selves. It is true, we have held a number of
Conventions, but have done nothing; but
now I think the time has come—yes, fully
come, when we should meet in Convention—in a National Convention—and to deliberate
upon our oppressed condition in this land of
slavery. And I very much regret that there
is not more time given for the people to call
and hold their meetings for the appointing of
delegates to the Convention; and the mak
ing out a true and full report of the number
of colored inhabitants in our towns or neigh
borhoods; the amount of property owned
by them; their business or occupation; the
state of education; the extent of their school
privileges, and the number of children in
attendance, &c. For all this to be done ac
curately, as the notice is short, the people
must go to work immediately, as there is no
time to be lost. Then let us put our armor on,
and with the sword of truth, go to battle for
freedom, and by the help of the God of the
oppressed, we will slay both of those hydra
headed monsters—the American Colonization
Society and the Fugitive Slave Act; and I
hope to see their old mother, the child of the
devil, (slavery,) wounded in the conflict, on
the 6th July, 1853.

Yours for Liberty, Equality,
and Fraternity,

J. B. VASHON.