(Manuscript.) A State of the Matter with relation to the Amending of Money Bills sent form the Com[m]ons to the Lords.

Legible cursive bookhand manuscript, on hand-ruled paper; a little finger soiling at the edges and a clean marginal tear to the final page, internally clean, pp. [67], folio, sometime separated from a larger volume, with only upper marbled wrapper extant; note to front endpaper: 'Unique MS from Earl of Harrowby's Collection' (from the library at Sandon Hall, Stafford), fair. This document reflects debates and disagreements between the House of Commons and the Lords with regards to money bills and the use of public funds, in the years following the Restoration. The bills relate to many areas of public spending, such as the upkeep and development of common highways, royal grants, the regulation of the mint, and duties on paper, parchment, vellum and pasteboard, as well as on the bitter trinity of tea, coffee and chocolate. Foreign concerns include payments towards waging a 'vigorous war' with France, restraining the import of Bengali textiles, levying an additional poll tax for the suppression of the Irish uprising during the Williamite War (1689), and more broadly seeking to 'reduce' Ireland, in part by forcing landowners to forfeit their estates. The prefatory comments by the scribe explain that the bills reflect a significant change in the management of public funds. They reflect tensions that emerged following the Restoration, as the Commons, recalling Charles I's earlier efforts to raise taxes without parliamentary consent, sought to assert its authority over public finance. The Lords often proposed amendments or rejected bills entirely; however, their authority in such matters became more limited following the formal recognition of the Commons' supremacy over financial legislation, established through resolutions passed in 1671 and 1678 after the Lords attempted to challenge the prevailing convention.…