The memorialists were Pak Chi-sun, former Minister for Foreign Affairs; Yi Wan-yong, Minister of Education; Kwan Chung-hiun, Minister of Agriculture, Commerce and Industry; Yi Chi-yung, Minister of Home Affairs; and Yi Kun-tak, Minister of War. The occasion of the memorial was the agitation against the Treaty which was then at its height, and on account of which these five Ministers were being denounced in petitions to the Throne, and in the public press, as traitors to their country. The purpose of the memorial was to show that the actual responsibility for the conclusion of the Treaty rested with the Emperor himself. By relating all the circumstances in detail (in particular the occurrences at the conference on the evening of November 17th) the memorialists brought this fact out into the boldest prominence. Their memorial was, in effect, both a charge which fixed the responsibility for the Treaty on the Emperor, and a challenge to the Emperor to deny that the Treaty was concluded in accordance with his own orders. It was a challenge which His Majesty did not accept; on the contrary, by approving the memorial, as he did formally, he acknowledged the truth of the statements it contained. _It was, indeed, officially published at the time, as approved by the Emperor._[40] Moreover, this memorial was prepared by its authors and presented to the Throne without the previous knowledge of the Japanese authorities. In fact, it contained certain interesting and important details of which they then learned for the first time.