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Haiti News Media > Haiti News > Nissage Saget - Haitian President Nissage Saget, Haitian President 
Provisional Council of Government: December 27, 1869 – March 19, 1870
Provisional President: Nissage Saget
Vice-President: Michel Domingue
Members: Nord Alexis, Dupont Jeune, and Volmar Laporte
Supporters of former President Salnave were hunted down and many of them executed. On January 6, 1870, the monopoly on coffee was rescinded. The 1867 Constitution was reinstated and legislative elections were organized.
Nissage Saget (b. Saint-Marc, September 20, 1810 – Saint-Marc, April 7, 1880)
President : March 19, 1870 – May 13, 1874
On the inaugural session of the new National Assembly, General Nissage Saget was elected president for a four-year term. The new President could be regarded as an oddity in Haitian history because two days before the expiration of his term he tendered his resignation and peaceably abandoned the presidency. His intelligent and honest administration improved the financial situation of the country. The following words show his scrupulous respect for the public money: “Ask me for epaulets and you shall get them, but the key to the treasure house you will never get.”
A monetary reform, after some shaky moments, replaced the inflationary currency in circulation under president Salnave, with the U.S. dollar and national copper coins. Because this reform slowed down commercial activities and less taxes were collected, the government was forced to borrow money.
The Saget administration experienced its share of insurrections in Port-au-Prince, Cap Haïtien, and Gonaïves. The government was able to keep them in check. Their authors and associates either were killed in combat or captured and executed.
Haiti, again, suffered the wrath of another world power: Germany. Pretending to support claims made by two German businessmen, two frigates entered Port-au-Prince on June 11, 1872 and demanding payment of three thousand pounds. Even before any answer from the Haitian Government, they seized two of it’s warships at anchor. Haiti gave in and paid the ransom. The two warships were returned but on their decks the national emblem was found covered with feces.
In 1870, U.S. President Ulysses Grant and Dominican President Baez signed a Treaty for the Annexation of the Dominican Republic. That Annexation of the Dominican Republic. That annexation represented a great danger for Haiti since they would be the next in line. Thanks to the tireless efforts of Massachusetts Senator Charles Sumner, an abolitionist, the treaty was rejected by the U.S. Senate. Grateful Haitians presented a metal to Senator Sumner and ordered that his portrait be hung in the main hall of the Chamber of Deputies. A street in Port-au-Prince is named after him.
The political class, in 1870, was divided into two groups called the Parti Libéral whose members were the Libéraux and the Parti National whose members were the Nationaux. Both parties were made up of educated men open to foreign ideas capable of helping Haiti’s development. The Parti Libéral adopted the motto: “Power to the most able citizens”, and its rival Parti National adopted “The greatest good to the greatest number of people.” The Parti Libéral with leaders like Boyer Bazelais, Boisrond Canal and Edmond Paul favored the establishment of light industries whereas Parti National with its founder, Septimus Rameau, and other leaders like Demesvar Delorme and Lysius Félicité Solomon favored agriculture.
The January 10, 1873 elections gave the majority of the seats in the camber of Deputies to the Parti Libéral of Boyer Bazelais. A struggle with the opposition ensued which kept the parliament from functioning for four months. The next session was plagued by the same problem. President Nissage Saget, whose term was to end on May 15, 1874, appointed General Michel Domingue Chief of the Army on the 12th and resigned the next day. Executive power was exercised by his cabinet of ministers.
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