DEAR SIR—I yesterday received your letter, inclosing your proclamation of the Circuit Court, for the trial of Smith, the horse-stealer. I shall be very sorry if Judge Chipman’s health should be such as to prevent his attending the trial. Should the Attorney General attempt to prosecute on recognizance for the escape, I think his (the Judge’s) influence at Court would prevent it. I am quite of your opinion, that it will be the most difficult case that has yet been before any Court for trial in this County. As for his behaving much better after I left the gaol, it was what I expected he would do, to put Reid off his guard. Those parts of his chains that were hanging in convenient situations, were powerful weapons, and had Reid come into the gaol alone, or weak-handed, he would have felt the weight of them. It is remarkable that the villain with all his art and cunning, should manage it so ill; and it seems altogether providential that from the beginning (except his sickness) he has either delayed too long or been too hasty, which has prevented his escape before, and I hope and trust will be the same with you. I am sorry for the trouble you have with him, and confidently hope and trust he will not evade your vigilance. You are too well acquainted with his conduct to need my advice. I must claim from you the particulars of his conduct at the trial. I remain yours truly, W. BATES, Esquire. W. DIBBLE. On the 30th of April, I went to the gaol and found Smith lying quietly with all his irons and chains uninjured, and told him that on Thursday next, the 4th of May, he must have his trial before the Court for his life or death; and that Mr. Pearson, the Deputy Sheriff who apprehended him at Pictou, had come to witness against him; but he paid no attention to what I said. The second day Mr. Pearson came to see him, and told him that his (Smith’s) wife had come to see him; but he took no notice of him, no more than if he could neither see nor hear, and set at defiance all attempts to extort one single expression, as though he were destitute of every sense. The third day we found that he had been at the stone wall, his face bruised and bloody. I renewed my attempts to elicit something from him by telling him that the next day he would be brought before the Court for his trial; but all was in vain. He gave me the most decided indications of confirmed insanity; patted his hands, hallooed, sang without articulating, and continued to sing and beat the floor with his chains the most of the night.