In his next annual message, that of December 5th, 1870, he took up the matter again, went over all of his old arguments expressed in even more extravagant language than before, and added the prophecy that if the United States did not take Santo Domingo, European nations would acquire the Bay of Samana and create there a great commercial city to which the United States would become tributary without receiving corresponding benefits, and that then the folly of the rejection of so great a prize by the United States would be recognized. He then asked Congress to authorize him to appoint a commission to negotiate a treaty with the authorities of Santo Domingo for its annexation to the United States, and suggested that the treaty so negotiated might be ratified by a joint resolution of the two Houses of Congress, instead of by the Senate alone. [Sidenote: The Committee of Inquiry.] These recommendations and suggestions and the language in which they were expressed were felt to be most exasperating by those Senators and Representatives who opposed the President's scheme, and the President's supporters saw quickly that Congress would not sanction any such measure as he proposed. In place of it, Senator Morton, of Indiana, offered in the Senate a resolution to empower the President to appoint a commission, composed of three persons, to go to Santo Domingo and inquire into the {326} political situation and the resources of the country. This resolution finally passed under strong opposition, and the House of Representatives concurred in it with the proviso, which the Senate accepted, that the resolution should not be construed as committing Congress in any manner or degree to the policy of annexing Santo Domingo to the United States. [Sidenote: The report of the commissioners.] The President appointed as commissioners Benjamin F. Wade, Andrew D. White and Samuel G. Howe. These gentlemen proceeded to Santo Domingo, made their inquiries, and furnished the President with a report sustaining his views and recommendations. [Sidenote: The abandonment of the scheme.]