MY DEAR SIR,--I am happy that you are still active for Kansas. Much remains to be done. Indeed, I think that no effort can be safely relaxed, until the Territory is admitted into the Union as a Free State. The Slave Oligarchy has not yet abandoned its darling idea of a new Slave State, and this can be defeated only by vigilance. The lull which seems now to prevail does not persuade me to repose. Too much is at stake. Besides, I have read the fable of the cat in the meal. Of course, emigrants who love Freedom, and, if need be, are willing to die in her cause, must be encouraged to plant themselves in the Territory. But we who stay at home must contribute to their comfort and protection, and, since this can be done most effectively through State Legislatures, these must be enlisted. The name of a State Legislature will be a tower of strength. Massachusetts, which, throughout our history, has led in every liberal movement, must lead now by a generous appropriation, which, if not needed, may not be used, but which, in any alternative, will be an irresistible token of her sincerity, an example to other States, and a fountain of encouragement to distant fellow-citizens. I cannot believe that Massachusetts will hesitate. Her people have already opened their hearts to Kansas, and the public treasury should be opened as wide as their hearts. Accept my thanks for the good you have done and the good you are still doing, and believe me, my dear Sir, with much regard, Faithfully yours, CHARLES SUMNER. JAMES REDPATH, Esq. ACCEPTANCE OF SENATORSHIP, ON REËLECTION. LETTER TO THE LEGISLATURE OF MASSACHUSETTS, JANUARY 22, 1857. In the winter of 1856, the American party having the control of the Legislature of Massachusetts, members of this party were reported as entering into a plan to choose a Senator in place of Mr. Sumner at the expiration of his term, March 4, 1857, thus anticipating the action of the Legislature to be chosen in the autumn following. The plan was discussed in newspapers and in contemporary letters. It excited the anxiety of Mr. Sumner’s political friends so far, that, at their request, he was induced to obtain from the Secretary of the Senate the adverse precedents, which were published at the time in the newspapers. The discussion of the question was arrested by the event which soon followed, turning all eyes to him, and making him more than ever the representative of Massachusetts.