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President Salomon (1879-1888) and his Ministers, predominantly Freemasons. Salomon, despite being a "National" Party leader, perhaps did more than other 19th century heads of state to weaken Haitian sovereignty. By establishing the National Bank (with French capital controlling it), Salomon's government instituted a foreign-controlled bank that refused development loans and challenged Haitian economic self-rule. On the other hand, Salomon's presidency did bring more teachers to Haiti, as well as integrate the country with the international mail system. His daughter (via his step-daughter, thereby making her the granddaughter of Salomon's wife!), Ida Faubert, became a well-known poet in France, too.
Salomon also bears importance in Haitian history for the 'color question' and competing narratives of Haitian history. Revived as a manje milat by certain noiriste thinkers of the 20th century, it is important to read historian David Nicholls to demolish that myth. Salomon was married to a French woman, had mixed-race children, sought French teachers to propagate French culture in Haiti, and had no problem selling out Haitian sovereignty to protect his power at all costs (including reaching out to France and perhaps the US for a protectorate to defend his regime from Liberal opposition). Although Salomon's family was of importance as a black elite in the South of Haiti, and Salomon supposedly honored the legacy of Dessalines in the 1840s when that hero of Haitian independence was vilified by mixed-race writers of the era, he himself rejected labels thrust upon him by black Nationals.
At the end of the day, questions of color and political party labels used by the Haitian elite meant little, since both Liberals and Nationals were only competing over who would share the spoils of the state, and both black elites and mulatto elites were Eurocentric with little interest in sharing power with the urban poor or the peasantry (the vast majority of the population). To his credit, as finance minister under Soulouque, Salomon did attempt to improve prices paid for peasants' products, only to face stiff resistance from Europeans and local export traders. Furthermore, Salomon's years in exile exemplify the importance of political elite exile communities in shaping Haitian politics, often with aid from the British, French, and other imperial powers of the Caribbean. Jamaica is perhaps the best example of an island hosting large Haitian exiles, including the Liberal opposition led by Jean-Pierre Boyer-Bazelais (and supported by the British, who also opposed Salomon for refusing to compensate a British national, which failed to unseat Salomon and resulted in bloodshed, targeting of Haitian-owned businesses in the cities tied to Liberals who supported the failed coup.
Keep in mind that the 1880s was a turbulent period where increasing foreign penetration of the Haitian economy was about to give way to foreign-owned firms and retail outlets gradually replacing natives, just as the agricultural economy was in decline due to lower productivity for cash crops, lower prices for Haitian exports, and numerous methods of taxation and theft by speculateurs and foreign merchants to cheat the peasantry out of pay. Along with this simultaneous decline of the economy and burgeoning foreign intervention, sincere attempts to usher in modernization, a fair tax system, and improve agriculture and industry (the overwhelming majority of the skilled workers and industrial labor were run by Europeans (such as Italians) or immigrants, like West Indian and French Caribbean settlers) fell flat. Indeed, I would go as far to say that active attempts to ensure a weakened Haitian state and economy through imperial pressure, foreign capital's control of the National Bank, and smuggling was done in part to ensure the 'first black republic' would remain subordinate.
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