Dear Sir,--Having learned that you are spending a few days at home, and approving the course you have pursued in Congress, in maintaining so ably the sentiments and convictions which we maintain and cherish on the great national questions of the day, we respectfully request you, before returning to Washington, to give your constituents an opportunity of hearing somewhat more at length than the hour rule would allow, your views and opinions upon the question of the immediate admission of California, and other questions now before Congress, arising out of the acquisition of territory by the treaty with Mexico. Should you comply with our request, please name some day which will be convenient for you, that we may give seasonable notice through your district. _Dedham._ JAMES RICHARDSON, I. CLEVELAND, JOHN GARDNER. _Roxbury._ DAVID A. SIMMONS, G. R. RUSSELL, JOSEPH H. BILLINGS, L. M. SARGENT, JOHN J. CLARKE, JOS. N. BREWER, WM. A. CRAFTS, WM. CAPEN, FRANCIS HILLIARD, DANIEL JACKSON, J. B. KETTELL. _Brookline._ CHARLES WILD, MARSHALL STEARNS, WM. DEARBORN, G. GRIGGS, DAVID WILDER, Jr., G. F. HOMER. _Dorchester._ E. SHARPE, N. F. SAFFORD, J. G. NAZRO. _Brighton_, J. BRECK. _Foxboro’_, A. HODGES. _Walpole_, A. BIGELOW. _Randolph_, J. WALES. _Quincy_, L. RICHARDS. _Franklin_, L. HARDING. _Stoughton_, J. SMITH. _Milton_, J. REED. _Cohasset_, GEO. BEAL. _Newton._ E. C. DYER, R. E. PATTERSON, W. S. WHITWELL. _Hingham._ C. W. CUSHING. April 23d, 1850. LETTER I. WEST NEWTON, May 3, 1850. To the Hon. James Richardson, I. Cleveland, and John Gardner, of Dedham; Hon. D. A. Simmons, John J. Clarke, Francis Hilliard, and George R. Russell, of Roxbury, &c., &c. GENTLEMEN; Having been called home on account of sickness in my family, I have just received, at this place, your kind invitation to meet and address my constituents of the 8th Congressional District, and to give them my “_views and opinions upon the question of the immediate admission of California, and other questions now before Congress, arising out of the acquisition of territory by the treaty with Mexico_.” A request from so high a source has almost the force of a command. Yet I dare not promise to comply. I am liable at any moment to be recalled, and, instead of speaking here, to vote there, upon the questions to which you refer. I might be summoned to return on the day appointed for us to meet. The only alternative, therefore, which is left me, is to address you by letter. This I will do, if I can find time. I shall thus comply with your request, in substance, if not in form.