OF THE OFFICE OF PREFECTS AND GOVERNORS, &C.
The superior political government of every department is vested in a prefect, under immediate subordination to the president of the republic; that of every province is entrusted to a sub-prefect, who is immediately subordinate to the prefect; that of the districts to a governor, who acknowledges the sub-prefect as his superior; and in every town, or Indian village, there is a still humbler officer called alcalde, who acts under the orders of the governor of his district, and is entrusted with the ordinary routine of local police.
To fill the appointment of prefect, sub-prefect, or governor, it is required that the candidate should be an active citizen, not under thirty years of age, and a man eminent for his probity.
The duties of such functionaries are,
1. To maintain public security and order in their respective territories.
2. To cause the articles of the political constitution, the laws enacted by congress, and the decrees and commands of the executive power, to be duly carried into effect.
3. To enforce the completion of sentences pronounced by the different tribunals and courts of justice.
4. To take care that the functionaries subordinate to each of them shall faithfully discharge their proper duties.
The prefects are also charged with the economical administration of the affairs of state within their respective departments. But they are restrained,
1. From interfering with, or in any degree interrupting, the course of popular elections.