The attorney-general, on the petition of John Preston, respectfully reports—

That the facts set forth by the petitioner, so far as they relate to his indebtedness to the state, the time when judgment will be recovered against him and his present inability to pay, are without doubt true. Of his future prospects the attorney-general cannot speak with any degree of certainty; the loan in question was made to the petitioner to enable him to publish an arithmetic for the use of the Lancaster schools in this state—He attributes his inability to pay, to the failure of that publication, which, he says, was produced by the imperfect manner in which it was printed. He has written, he says, another work on the same subject, of the success of which he entertains the most sanguine hopes, and from the avails of the publication it is that he contemplates to pay the state.

MARTIN VAN BUREN, Attorney-General.

March 25, 1816.