two unauthorized annexation treaties, Grant, however, approved and pressured his cabinet to accept them. Grant ordered Fish to draw up formal treaties, sent to Báez by Babcock's return to the island nation. The Dominican Republic would be annexed for $1.5 million and Samaná Bay would be lease-purchased for $2 million. General D.B. Sackett and General Rufus Ingalls accompanied Babcock. On November 29, President Báez signed the treaties. On December 21, the treaties were placed before Grant and his cabinet. Grant's grand plan to annex Santo Domingo, a black and mixed-race nation, into the United States, however, would be hostilely obstructed by Senator Charles Sumner. On December 31, Grant met with Sumner, unannounced, at Sumner's Washington D.C. home to gain his support for annexation. Grant left confident Sumner approved, but what Sumner actually said was controversially disputed, by various witnesses. Without appealing to the American public, to his detriment, Grant submitted the treaties on January 10, 1870, to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, chaired by the stubborn and imperious Sumner, for ratification, but Sumner purposefully shelved the bills. Prompted by Grant to stop stalling the treaties, Sumner's committee took action but rejected the bills by a 5-to-2 vote. Sumner opposed annexation and reportedly said the Dominicans were "a turbulent, treacherous race" in a closed session of the Senate. Sumner sent the treaties for a full Senate vote, while Grant personally lobbied other senators. Despite Grant's efforts, the Senate defeated the treaties, on Thursday, June 30, by a 28–28 vote when a 2/3 majority was required. Grant was outraged, and on Friday, July 1, 1870, he sacked his appointed Minister to Great Britain, John Lothrop Motley, Sumner's close friend and ally. In January 1871, Grant signed a joint resolution to send a commission to investigate annexation. For this undertaking, he chose three neutral parties, with Fredrick Douglass to be secretary of the commission, that gave Grant the moral high ground from Sumner. Although the commission approved its findings, the Senate remained opposed, forcing Grant to abandon further efforts. Seeking retribution, in March 1871, Grant maneuvered to have Sumner deposed of Sumner's powerful Senate chairmanship, replaced by Grant ally Simon Cameron. The stinging controversy over Santo Domingo overshadowed Grant's foreign diplomacy. Critics complained of Grant's reliance on military personnel to implement his policies. Cuba and Virginius Affair American policy under Grant was to remain neutral during the Ten Years' War (1868–78), a series