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yen. Nor was this state of things confined to the year immediately following the revolution. One of the most pressing needs of the new Government was, therefore, to secure sufficient resources for the Treasury by establishing a proper system of taxation, and in doing this care had to be taken for making the new system consonant with the policy of facilitating and encouraging the economic progress of the nation.

It is a known characteristic of the feudal system that under it there is not a clear distinction between administrative power and proprietary right, and Japan under the Shogunate was no exception to the rule. The lords not only governed, but held a sort of proprietary right over their respective territories, with the result that the right of the people over their estates was restricted in more than one way, and that the land-tax had much the nature of rent. The land-tax in the form of rice was invariably the principal source of the lords’ revenue, though, in the absence of a fixed and common system of taxation, its rate varied in different fiefs, and other miscellaneous duties were imposed, according to the industrial conditions of the different localities. Hence the burden of the agricultural population was unduly heavy, the rate of the tax on land ranging between 30 and 70 per cent. of its produce. As to the people in general, their position as taxpayers was ill-defined, because they were liable to the arbitrary imposition of extra contributions in money and personal service. In fact, the feudal system under the Shogunate was a military organization in which the welfare of the agricultural, industrial, and commercial people was wantonly sacrificed to maintain the warrior class retained by the lords and clans. While the position of the people as tax-payers was thus ill-defined, the position of the Shogunate as the central Government was financially also a peculiar one. The Shogunate exercised a supreme authority over all the fiefs, but the whole country was not under its direct government. The lords of the fiefs, holding their territories by grant or recognition of the Shogunate, were required in case of need to put their military force at its disposal, and to render it certain other services. Contributions, not very great in amount, were also made by some of the fiefs to the revenue of the Shogunate; but no direct tax was to be imposed by the central Government upon the people of the fiefs. The ordinary revenue of the Shogunate was raised principally from the territories reserved as its own distinct from the fiefs held by the lords. It would seem, therefore, that in this respect the Shogunate was merely the largest of the fiefs. Now it will be easy to understand how the financial difficulties of the newly-restored Imperial Government were aggravated by the peculiar nature of its predecessor. The central authority was transferred to the Imperial Govern-