Préfet

“ Because each man's post and duties are not sufficiently definite. Nothing is distinctly defined; and no person, even of those highest in office, is placed in the department for which he is best fitted. Most usually, the préfet himself, on being elected to fill that important situation, is wholly ignorant of the duties of the police, and yet he ascends at once to the highest rank in it, there to pass through his apprenticeship. ”

“ Mauvaise journée, monsieur le préfet; elle finira mal. Cependant, j'y pense, vous avez toléré une chose bien extraordinaire: votre M. Odry, avec sa chanson des gendarmes! Mais c'est direct, cela, monsieur le préfet, c'est direct.... Les gendarmes n'obéissent qu'à l'impulsion qu'on leur donne; cette impulsion est produite par un autre; remontez à la source, et vous verrez que rien n'est sacré pour M. Odry! ”

“ Retired magistrates make far too young Prefets. Partisans of the right, riding the high horse on points of law, they are not light-handed in arbitary action such as critical circumstances often require; cases in which the Prefet should be as prompt as a fireman called to a conflagration. So, face to face with the Vice-President of the Council of State, the Prefet confessed to more faults than the police really has, deplored its abuses, and presently was able to recollect the visit paid to him by the Baron de Nucingen and his inquiries as to Peyrade. ”

“ Mes élèves se mirent en rang, ils causaient beaucoup du sous-préfet et se montraient en passant sa voiture stationnant devant la porte. Je les remis entre les mains des professeurs; puis, une fois débarrassé d’eux, je m’élançai en courant dans l’escalier. Il me tardait [75] tant d’être seul dans ma chambre avec la lettre de mon frère Jacques!
— Monsieur Daniel, on vous attend chez le principal.
Chez le principal!... Que pouvait avoir à me dire le principal?... Le portier me regardait avec un drôle d’air. Tout à coup l’idée du sous-préfet me revint.
— Est-ce que M. le sous-préfet est là-haut? ”

“ The préfet, terrified by that multitude, terrified of its very silence, came forward. Amongst all that sixty to eighty thousand persons of all ages and of both sexes, there were nearly thirty thousand men. ”

“ The préfet, rejoicing to see the ambition of some restraining the desires of others, gathered together, on the joint recommendation of the lodges, a band of senators, deputies, municipal councillors and road-surveyors, all equally loyal to the government, yet sufficiently diverse in opinion and sufficiently moderate to satisfy and reassure all republican parties, save the socialists. M. le préfet Worms-Clavelin had brought about this unanimity. And now the radical ministry must needs break up so happy a harmony. ”

“ The Republic made the Maires elective; the Republic placed education in the hands of the local authorities. Under its influence the communes, the cantons, and the departments were becoming real administrative bodies. They are now geographical divisions. The Préfet appoints the Maires; the Préfet appoints in every canton a Commissaire de Police, seldom a respectable man, as the office is not honourable; the Gardes champêtres, who are the local police, are put under his control; the Recteur, who was a sort of local Minister of Education in every department, is suppressed ”

“ The youngest, appointed sous-prefet, ere long became a legal official and director of a municipal board of the city of Paris, where he was safe from changes in Legislature. These bounties, bestowed without parade, and as secret as the favor enjoyed by the Count, fell unperceived. Though the father and his three sons each had sinecures enough to enjoy an income in salaries almost equal to that of a chief of department, their political good fortune excited no envy. ”

“ When, however, we pass to elementary education we see everything is changed. The elementary teacher is not appointed by his natural chief, the recteur or Minister of Public Education, he is appointed by the préfet, that is by the Minister of the Interior, the political head of the Government. In other words, this is the same process as the appointment of officials by the people, described a few pages back, but with one intermediary the less. It is pre-eminently the Minister of the Interior who represents the political will of the nation at any given date. ”

“ A peine arrivé dans ce vast établissement,... qui rend réellement d'immenses services à la société, et qu'on devrait nommer autrement, par égard pour nous autres gens bien nés ... ma figure plut à l'inspecteur de police; il devina mes talents, me fit des propositions. Malgré le vœu que j'avais fait de ne plus servir un pays aussi ingrat, la philanthropie, le désir du bien général, etc., etc., me déterminèrent; mais hélas! quelle décadence, monsieur le préfet! être réduit à examiner la conduite morale et politique des galériens ... ”

“ The sous-préfets, having very limited powers of deciding questions, serve above all as intermediaries between the prefect and the persons under his administration. This function was most useful in the year VIII., when communications were difficult, even within a department, but nowadays it only leads to complications. As a matter of fact their chief service to the administration lies in keeping up good relations with the maires of the communes in their arrondissement, and thus acquiring a certain amount of influence over them. ”

“ The prefets of the departments, and sous-prefets of districts, are nominated by the king, subject to approval by the chamber of deputies. The communal chiefs and councils are elected by the people over whom they are to preside. ”

“ The prefect, however, is no more than an intend ant in miniature, being only at the head of a department, whereas the intend ant was over a généralité, which was a much larger district. In the same way the sous-préfets correspond to the subdélégués of the intend ants, with the difference that they are actual officials subordinate to the prefects, while the subdélégués were merely the representatives with whom the intend ants provided themselves, and to whom they gave powers. ”

“ Always in the general council, in the municipal council, and in the mayoralty, they are tempted to usurp it; the prefect has as much as he can do to keep them within the local bounds, to keep them from meddling with state matters and the general policy; he is often obliged to accept their lack of consideration, to be patient with them, to talk to them mildly; for they talk and want the administration to reckon with them as a clerk with his master ”

“ In each district also there is a head-man, but his post is always elective and generally non-salaried. He occupies towards a district assembly the same position that the sub-prefecture head-man holds towards a sub-prefectural assembly. Over the governors stands the minister for home affairs, who discharges general duties of superintendence and sanction, has competence to delete any item of a local budget, and may, with the emperor’s consent, order the dissolution of a local assembly, provided that steps are taken to elect and convene another within three months. ”

“ They need the prefect's signature almost every day to stamp some official act; they require government grants for the maintenance of schools, roads and other purposes in their communes; they dare not offend the prefects, under penalty of having men appointed as rural constables, mayors' secretaries and letter-carriers who shall be so many enemies of the mayors and shall thwart them at every step. The prefect thus exercises enormous influence in every commune, both over the mayor and the lower class of appointees. ”

“ The Deputy is above the Assistant, the Commissioner above the Deputy, the Lieutenant-Governor above the Commissioner, and the Viceroy above all four, under the orders of the Secretary of State, who is responsible to the Empress. If the Empress be not responsible to her Maker—if there is no Maker for her to be responsible to—the entire system of Our administration must be wrong. Which is manifestly impossible. ”

“ Their chief officers are a Burgomaster, like our Mayor, twenty-four Senators, like our Common Council, and a Syndic, as our Recorder. These are the chief Council and Judicatory of the city, and order all the public affairs thereof; only in some extraordinary occasions of making laws or foreign treaties, matters of war and peace, the people of the town make choice of deputies, sometimes forty or fifty,—more or less, as they please,—who sit and consult with the Senate, and by their votes by the people, who willingly submit thereunto. ”

“ So it came about that the old ajun class became a sort of hereditary advisorship to the local prefects in each district.
Each prefecture is a miniature of the central government. The prefect becomes, as it were, the king of his little state, and the ajuns are his ministers. So closely is the resemblance carried out that each prefect has his six ministers; namely, of Interior, Finance, Ceremonies, War, Law and Industries. It is through these men that all the business is performed. The emperor can change his cabinet at will, and has thousands from whom to choose, but the prefect has no choice. ”

“ In other parishes, municipal administrations shall be composed of a mayor and two administrators; a substitute commissary of the responsible tribunal shall hold the function of commissary near the municipality gratuitously.
Art. 49. Members of these municipal administrations shall be nominated for two years; they may always continue beyond that time. Their nomination devolves to the Governor, who, on a list of at least sixteen individuals, presented by each municipal administration, chooses the persons most appropriate to manage the affairs of each parish. ”

“ The emperor is assisted in the discharge of his executive duties by a prime minister and nine department ministers; besides these he has the advice of a privy council, composed of elder statesmen, of which Marquis Ito is now the president.
Each state has what corresponds to our legislature, and each city has a council; both of these bodies are elective and to the city council is entrusted the selection of the mayor.
They have a judiciary, federal and local, appointed for life, but no jury system. ”

“ Crull. In my opinion; yes, sir.
Mr. Hubert. Would you explain just what is the ordinary effect of your relationship with your department heads, including and particularly the head of the police department insofar as the administration and policies of the police department are concerned?
Mr. Crull. The general administration is left to the chief and his staff. They are trained. The administrative policies, the general personnel regulations, and things of that nature first come out of our office to the department, and then are followed by the different departments. ”

“ In case the mayor and president shall be absent from any meeting of the common council, they shall proceed to elect a temporary presiding officer, who, for the time being, shall discharge the duties of mayor. The president, or temporary presiding officer, while presiding over the council or performing the duties of mayor, shall be styled 'acting mayor,' and acts performed by them shall have the same force and validity as if performed by the mayor.' 'Chapter 3, § 3. ”

“ Each of the eight provinces is ruled by a governor, who has under him prefects, local magistrates, supervisors of hamlets, and petty officials, so that the whole scale makes a very complete system and affords no lack of officials.
There are several special officers appointed by the King, one of whom is the government inspector, whose duty it is to go about in disguise, learn the condition of the people, and ascertain if any magistrate abuses his office and oppresses the people unjustly. Any such he may bring to speedy justice. ”

“ I observe, “but believe me, you will do well to announce the Thiers-Barrot Ministry and say nothing about Marshal Bugeaud.”
“You are right.”
The Mayor requisitions a squad of National Guards, takes with him his two deputies and the Municipal Councillors present, and descends into the Place Royale. The roll of drums attracts the crowd. He announces the new Cabinet. The people applaud and raise repeated shouts of “Hurrah for Reform!” The Mayor adds a few words recommending harmony and the preservation of order, and is universally applauded. ”

“ And, Honorable Judges, the whole experience of government proves the absolute necessity for a separate legislative department. Look where you will, and in each case there is an executive cabinet, based upon appointment, untrammelled by the burdens of legislation, and subjected to the criticism and control of a reviewing body. In Europe, the city councils are elected by the people, and the administrative departments are made up through a process of selection and appointment, together with the assurance of reasonable permanence of tenure, responsibility, and adequate support. ”

“ Under the pressure, however, of custom and of parliamentary control, they have been reduced to essentially a common style of organization and a common mode of administrative procedure. In virtually every instance the department is presided over by a single responsible minister, assisted as a rule by one or more parliamentary under-secretaries and, more remotely, by a greater or lesser body of non-political officials who carry on the actual work of the department and whose tenure is not affected by the political fortunes of their chiefs. ”

“ The mayor presides over the council meetings, serves commonly as an ex-officio member of committees, and represents the municipality upon ceremonial occasions. The office is not one of power, although it is possible for an aggressive and tactful mayor to wield real influence. The permanent officers of the council include a clerk, a treasurer, a medical official, a secretary for education, and a variable number of inspectors and heads of administrative departments. ”