No (piestion was ever started before but that the King has a right to a legislative authority over a conquered country ; it was never denied in Westminster Hall ; it was never questioned in parliament."® This decision was made in the Court of King's Bench in 1774 -- a century after the practical a}>i)lication of, and action under, its principle, by Charles the Second, and .lames the Second, and William & Mary in their Province of New York, to say nothing of Queen Anne and her successors. There can therefore be no question as to the law itself, or the legality of the power by which the Sovereigns of England, by their " Commissions" and "Instructions" to their (rovernors, established the Church of England in their American Pi ovince of New York.
Now what was a " Province" in law? This term, in Latin Frovincia, was first used by the Romans to designate a portion of territory outside of Italy, which they had subjected by conquest. Its general use, however, says Chief Justice Stokes of the Colony of Georgia, is "to denote the divisions of a Kingdom or State, as they are usually distinguished by the extent of their civil or ecclesiastical jurisdiction. With us. [the English people] a Province signifies -- 1st. An out-country governed by a De])uty or Lieutenant; and2dly,Tlie circuit of an Archbishop's jurisdiction. When the British settlements in America are spoken of in general, they arc called the Colonies or Plantations. If it is a Government on the Continent [in contradistinction to the West India Islands] where the King api)oints the Governor it is usually called a Province, as the Province of Quebec ; but a Plantation in which the Governor was elected by the iiihab-