Therefore, there were a lot of conservative people against it within the government, with Hisamitsu SHIMAZU as the leader, Issei MAEBARA, Toshiaki KIRINO and others, and Takamori SAIGO took a passive stance for conscription because he had his own plan of the volunteer 'sohei' military system in consideration of the middle to lower class samurai.
そのため、政府内にも島津久光を筆頭に前原一誠・桐野利秋ら保守的な反対論者を多数抱えており、また西郷隆盛も「壮兵」といって、中下層士族の立場を考慮した志願兵制度を構想していて徴兵制には消極的であった。