3. _Fidelity to the flag._--This duty is implied in the two preceding ones. The duty of courage, in fact, implies that one should not flee before the enemy: it is the crime of _desertion_; that one should not pass over to the enemy: it is the crime of _defection_ or _treason_. This latter crime has become very rare, and has even wholly disappeared in modern France. Formerly there was seen a Condé, the great Condé fighting against the French at the head of Spanish troops; and so great a fault scarcely injured his reputation; in our days, a simple suspicion, and that an unjust one, blackened the whole life of a Marshal of France.[66] 4. _Obedience and discipline._ (See above, _Duties toward the State_, preceding chapter.) =102. III. Public functions--Administration--Deputation--Magistracy--The Bar.=--The public functions are the divers acts which compose the government of a State. We even include the _elective_ functions (deputation, general councils, town councils, etc.), because, whilst they have their origin in election, they are, nevertheless, functions, the purpose of which is the _common weal_, _public interests_. For the same reason, though the bar is a free profession, it is so connected with magistracy, it is so necessary a dependency of the judicial power, that it is thereby itself a sort of public power. =103. Functionaries.=--We call _functionaries_, more particularly, those who take part in the administration of the country and the execution of its laws. This admitted, the principal duties of functionaries are: 1. The _Knowledge of the laws_ they are commissioned to execute. Power is only legitimate as far as it is guaranteed by _competency_. Ignorance in public functions has for its results _injustice_, since arbitrariness takes then the place of the law; administrative _disorder_, since the law has precisely for its object to establish rules and maintain traditions; _negligence_, since ignorant of the principles by which affairs ought to be settled, conclusions are kept off as much as possible. But one must not defer obtaining administrative information till called to take a share in the administration. A general information should be acquired beforehand; for, once engaged in administrative affairs, there is then no longer time to acquire it. _To go to work_ is, therefore, the first duty of those who would be prepared for public functions; and this duty of work continues with the functions; for after general information has been obtained, comes the special and technical information, where there is always something new to learn.