BURLINGTON, Vt., 1853.

  FREDERICK DOUGLASS, ESQ.: DEAR SIR:—I take the liberty of sending you a few lines, and, though a stranger to you, I trust I am not so to the noble cause you so faithfully and zealously advocate. I am greatly interested in reading your valuable paper, which comes to me as regularly as the week rolls by; and I am rejoiced to see it so well filled with good news from all parts of the country, in relation to the success and progress of the cause of freedom. I wish to express to you my belief that the great National Convention, held in August last, will accomplish more good through its influence upon the minds of all classes of the people, than anything else which has been done since the organization of the Liberty Party; yet, perhaps some may think I should make here two exceptions, one in favor of Uncle Tom's Cabin, the other in favor of the Fugitive Slave Law—these have done a mighty work towards liberating the oppressed from an ignoble and almost helpless bondage. Our thanks and our gratitude are due to Mrs. Stowe, for the great and good work, while the most commanding intellects of the age are merely exerting their talents to amuse the people; her's have been exerted to instruct them in the path of duty—to enlighten their moral reception—and to excite their sympathies in favor of a helpless and oppressive people. Uncle Tom has paid a visit to almost every family in the country; and his earnest and tearful appeal to all of the best, and purest, and noblest feelings of human nature will never be forgotten by those who have given him a candid hearing. This leaven is silently, but surely working its way to the hearts of the great mass of the American people. The Fugitive Slave Law, intended, by its framers, to operate in favor of slavery, is doing much for universal liberty; it has lighted anew the torch of slavery agitation; and the severity of its enactments, and their execution, have raised up, in favor of the oppressed, a host of friends who are willing to sacrifice their lives and their fortunes to knock the fetters from their shackled limbs; it has driven many a victim to the land of freedom, where, on British soil, he enjoys the rights and immunities of a free-born citizen, which he cannot find in this great republic—it may well be considered a stepping-stone to liberty. In relation to the Convention, I will add, it seems to have imparted new action, and increased energy to the members of that body; and it is greatly to be hoped that a spirit of harmony will prevail through all the deliberations of the Council, and that they may be guided in their motives by disinterested benevolence. Before us lies a great and glorious work to be accomplished, and the time has fully come when energetic action seems to be indispensable. Resolutions are good, but right action is better. Let the spirit of reform be carried into action, and the good work will roll on to its consummation.—Friend J. W. Loguen has been recently laboring in our State, and, I hope, with good success. I am glad to find him a faithful and fearless champion of liberty. May the good spirit who guides and protects the faithful servant bless his labors. I hope to hear a good report of his doings in this section of the country.

  Yours for the oppressed,

JAMES L. TAYLOR.