There were the clever talkers also who, having nothing to fear from a contest of words, began an argument in the flattering hope that they could bring the wandering sheep back to the fold.  It was not his main idea that they disputed, so much as its desirability; they would appeal to Clerambault’s better side: 

“Certainly, of course, I think as you do, or almost as you do; I understand what you mean; ... but you ought to be cautious, my dear friend, not to trouble the consciences of those who have to fight.  You cannot always speak the truth, at least not all at once.  These fine things may come about ... in fifty years, perhaps.  We must wait and not go too fast for nature ...”

“Wait, until the appetites of the exploiter, and the folly of the exploited are equally exhausted?  When the thinking of clear-sighted, better sort gives way to the blindness of coarser minds, it goes directly contrary to that nature which it professes to follow, and against the historical destiny which they themselves make it a point of honour to obey.  For do we respect the plans of Nature when we stifle one part of its thought, and the higher, at that?  The theory which would lop off the strongest forces from life, and bend it before the passions of the multitude, would result in suppressing the advance-guard, and leaving the army without leaders....  When the boat leans over, must I not throw my weight on the other side to keep an even keel?  Or must we all sit down to leeward?  Advanced ideas are Nature’s weights, intended to counter-balance the heavy stubborn past; without them the boat will upset....  The welcome they will receive is a side issue.  Their advocates can expect to be stoned, but whoever has these things in his mind and does not speak them, is a dishonoured man.  He is like a soldier in battle, to whom a dangerous message is entrusted; is he free to shirk it?...  Why does not everyone understand these things?”

When they saw that persuasion had no effect on Clerambault, they unmasked their batteries and violently taxed him with absurd, criminal pride.  They asked him if he thought himself cleverer than anyone else, that he set himself up against the entire nation?  On what did he found this overweening self-confidence?  Duty consists in being humble, and keeping to one’s proper place in the community; when it commands, our duty is to bow to it, and, whether we agree or not, we must carry out its orders.  Woe to the rebel against the soul of his country!  To be in the right and in opposition to her is to be wrong, and in the hour of action wrong is a crime.  The Republic demands obedience from her sons.