Through the greater expenses falling upon the king, his power often waned, while that of the barons waxed greater; and to render their independence perpetual, and at the same time to assure a support to the chief, the system of entail was fallen upon. The barons were ever and again adding to their property and power by marriages, by successions, by purchase, or by force and might. Honors and even offices became hereditary. So long as weapons of war were in each man’s possession, and every one was in proportion to his personal strength and activity a soldier, no great expense fell upon the chief. His followers could be summoned at an hour’s notice. But when the introduction of gunpowder rendered personal strength and activity of comparatively small value, it increased the expense falling upon the leader. Trained skill required time, and education was necessary. Large guns, requiring expensive ammunition, called for a more expensive system of fortification. The lesser barons could not undertake these. The expenses of war fell entirely upon the king. Trained soldiers required a standing army. When there is any coast to defend, a navy is required. In the practical working of the system of Iyeyas, there was the difference between Japan and European countries, that, until the use of steam, she had no neighbors to dread as foes or to covet as vassals. There was always an attempt to compensate for the want of this external pressure in the duality or separation of interests between the Mikado, the fountain of honors, and the executive, by whatever name the head officer might be called, whether Kwanrei or Shiogoon. Security was sought for by the laws of Iyeyas, not against external foes, but against the decadence of the dynasty from internal weakness, or from the power of those who ought to be supporters becoming overwhelming. There was in Japan no call for great expenses, either in keeping up fortifications, armaments, or a standing army or navy. No embassadors were dispatched to foreign courts, to consume the revenues of the empire. Against the tendency to the aggrandizement of the barons, and their increase in wealth and power by marriage and other means, Iyeyas fixed the amount of territory which each lord was to possess. Land which produced of rice annually a certain quantity was allotted to each baron, according to his rank or rights. But one great difference between this system and that of entails in Europe lay in this, that the estate granted to each baron could not be added to or diminished, either by marriage or by purchase or by might, except by express permission and grant from the Shiogoon, the superior of all. This law tended to prevent the enormous accumulation of land in a few hands. This land they might lease or grant to their retainers, some of whom were very wealthy; but so long as such a one was a retainer of a Daimio, whatever his wealth might be, there was little chance of his rising to honors in the state.