Bache, while traveling writes his father, summing up his opinions of Millard Fillmore’s Washington:

“My Dear Father,

Supposing that a word from me will be expected. I will write these few lines. Our visit here has been reasonably pleasant and satisfactory. … To day we visit Mt. Vernon having delayed the view till now on a/c of the weather. I will not attempt to write my observations on “the Lions” at Washington – only to say “some ain’t Lions” they being “apes.” …”

           If the writer visited the United States Senat that week, he might have caught a glimpse of Henry Clay, Jefferson Davis, Stephen Douglas, Hannibal Hamlin, Lewis Cass, Salmon Chase, William Seward and Charles Sumner. Then again, he might have seen some of the other forty Senators who, in animal simile, were far from majestic lords of the political jungle.