Although it was a forced announcement by Katsura, Saionji, who believed that former court nobles should be 'hanpei' (protectors of the emperor) even after the Meiji Restoration, insisted that he himself was responsible and unforgivable as the leader of the party for the Seiyukai's neglect of the edict.
桂が出させたものであるとはいえ、「公家は天皇の藩屏でなければならない」と信じる西園寺にとって、自分が率いる政友会が天皇の詔勅を無視したことは許されないという論理である。