Page:Haiti- Her History and Her Detractors.djvu/242

 of the election of Boyer Bazelais was hotly contested by his opponents, whose motion for unseating him was nevertheless not adopted; thereupon they withdrew from the House, creating what is called a dissidence. For want of quorum the legislative body could not do any practical work. In the mean time, the month of May began; on the 15th the term of office of Nissage Saget was to come to an end. The liberal party tried to persuade him to remain in power until his successor could be elected. This he emphatically refused to do, and on the 14th of May, 1874, he relinquished his high office into the hands of the Council of the Secretaries of State, having previously appointed Michel Domingue Commander-in-Chief of the Haitian Army. On the 20th of May he left Port-au-Prince for Saint-Marc, where he lived up to the time of his death, which occurred on the 7th of April, 1880.