[Sidenote: The first Church of England bishops in British North America.] It may be noted that the Act specifically mentioned the Bishop of Nova Scotia as the spiritual authority for the time being over such ministers of the Church of England as might be appointed to the two Canadas. The Bishopric of Nova Scotia dated from 1787, and was the first, and in 1791 the only, Church of England bishopric in British North America, the Bishop--Bishop Inglis, having been a Loyalist clergyman in the city of New York. In 1793 a separate Bishop of Quebec was appointed, and in 1799 the Secretary of State authorized the building of a metropolitan church at Quebec, which was completed for consecration in 1804, and at the centenary of which in 1904 the Archbishop of Canterbury was present. There were indications at this time that the Protestants in Canada, most of whom were not members of the Church of England, might be inclined to unite within it, and it was hoped that the building and endowment of a metropolitan church might tend to such union and to placing the Church of England in the position of the Established Church of Canada. [Sidenote: Provisions relating to land tenure, and to taxation by the Imperial Parliament.] The provisions in the Act which related to religion were followed by three very important sections dealing with land tenure. The main grievance of the settlers in Upper Canada was met by providing that land grants should there be made on the English system of free and common soccage. The same system was made optional in Lower Canada at the will of the grantee, but in that province the seigniors were not finally abolished until the year 1854. In 1778 an Act of Parliament had been passed[203]--too late in the day--which abolished the tea duty in the North American colonies, and laid down that no duty should in future be imposed by the British Parliament on any colony in North America or the West Indies for revenue purposes, but only for the regulation of commerce, and on the understanding that the net produce of such duties should be at the disposal of the colonial legislatures. Similar provisions were inserted in the Canada Act of 1791, and, in introducing the Bill, Pitt explained that, ‘in order to prevent any such dispute as had been the cause of separating the thirteen states from the mother country, it was provided that the British Parliament should impose no taxes but such as were necessary for the regulation of trade and commerce; and, to guard against the abuse of this power, such taxes were to be levied and to be disposed by the Legislature of each division.’