The Baltimore Sun,

GOVERNORS OF MARYLAND: A SERIES OF BIOGRAPHIES, XXIX

Enoch Louis Lowe

By Heinrich Ewald Buchholz

When Fort Sumter unchained the dogs of war in 1861 it was the border States which first fell prey to the vicious animals, and the poison of their fangs worked fearful injury to the political and social fabric of those commonwealths which occupied a position between North and South.

The call to arms showed the cotton states as a unit for secession; it disclosed the “abolition” and neighboring States also as a unit for armed opposition to secession; but the commonwealths lying between the two extremes found it no simple problem to determine with which cause to cast their lot.

The travail of Confederate Virginia brought forth a radically Unionist offspring in West Virginia. The struggle for Missouri resulted in the secessionists being driven from their homes that the Commonwealth might be secured to the North. But immediately adjoining it, in Tennessee was witnessed a reversal of the procedure, and Union sympathizers had to flee from their native commonwealth because of the superiority of the Confederate supporters.

Maryland while not as generally favorable to the Southern cause as Virginia, was fully as much perplexed by the question of allegiance as were Missouri and Tennessee. Because of the Commonwealth's geographical position, however, the national Government strained every nerve to keep the Old Line State in the hands of Unionists, lest a move toward secession result in severing the North from the national capital. Necessity, in the eyes of governmental officials warranted a disregard of the constitutional limitations placed upon them, and at the same time total ignoring of the privileges granted under the Constitution to those who might profess a political faith other than theirs.

MARYLAND'S GOVERNORS.

The right or the wrong of the Federal Government's course is of no concern here, except so far as it influenced the lives of certain men who have served as the chief magistrates of Maryland. And the course of these men during the conflict shows in no uncertain way how public sentiment tended.

William Grason, the first Governor under the amended Constitution, and who held office from 1839 to 1842, was an ardent supporter of slavery and a sympathizer with the South. His successor, Francis Thomas (1842-1845) in later years became a “red-hot” Republican, and personally organized a regiment of 3,000 men to fight with the North.

The next two Governors— Thomas G. Pratt (1845-1848) and Philip Francis Thomas (1848-1851) were sentimentally inclined toward the Confederacy, and each, though taking no active part in the war, gave the Southern army the service of a son. Lowe, the last Governor to serve under the amended Constitution, went even further than his immediate predecessors. When the war began he took his way to the Southland, and there gave moral and material support to the Confederacy. If secession was rebellion, then he was one of the most violent of Maryland “rebels,” and the final defeat of the Confederacy brought a gloom over his spirits from which he never fully recovered.

His figure becomes almost pathetic when the promise of his youth is contrasted with the retirement and inactivity in public affairs of his later years. He was little more than a youth when he began his public career. After holding a seat in the State Legislature he was chosen Governor of the State few days after reaching the eligible age for that office. At 30 he had been in the General Assembly and was Governor of Maryland. The possibilities for future honors and advancement seemed unlimited at that time. But the war clouds then gathering were to bring almost as much disaster to the public career of Governor Lowe they brought to the Southern republic.

His Spirits were Broken

While the conflict lasted, Mr. Lowe remained constantly on the side of the Confederacy, advising and cheering those who operated its political machinery. And when the war closed, with its defeat of all that the South had hoped for, he silently folded his tent and stole as silently from the stage of public life. He left behind him the scenes where he had witnessed the downfall of the Confederacy; he left behind him the scenes where he had won his earliest honors in his native State of Maryland, and during the last several decades of his life resided In Brooklyn, N.Y. practicing law and avoiding as much as possible publicity.

Enoch Louis Lowe was born in Frederick county On August 10, 1820, the son of Lieut. Bradley S. A. and Adelalde (Vincendiere) Lowe. His father was a graduate of the United States Military School, who had seen active service in the second war with England and in the Florida war. At the time of his son's birth the family occupied The Hermitage, a beautiful estate of 1,000 acres on the Monocacy river.

The early years of Lowe were free of care regarding financial matters, and he was enabled to acquire leisurely a very thorough education, partly in his native land and partly In Europe. He began his school life in Frederick City, where he gained an elementary education at St. John's School. At the age of 13 he was sent to Ireland to continue his studies under the Jesuits, and became a pupil at Clongowas Wood College, near Dublin. Subsequently he went to Lancashire, England, and pursued his Studies at the Roman Catholic College of Stonyhurst, where he continued for three years.

Upon completing university studies young Lowe devoted considerable time to touring Europe, and upon his return to America traveled about the States for about a year. With the academic training that he had acquired at the several educational institutions he had attended, and the further development that resulted from his extensive travels, Mr. Lowe began upon his return to his native country final preparations for a professional career. He entered the office of Judge Lynch, or Frederick city, as a law student, and in 1842, at the age of 21, was admitted to the bar.

HIS ENTRANCE INTO POLITICS.

He formed a partnership with John W. Baughman and engaged in the practice of his profession in the Western Maryland town. He early cultivated a liking for politics and devoted much of his time to a study of the political problems of the day. He espoused the Democratic creed, and in 1845 came before the people of Frederick county as that party's candidate for the state Legislature. His campaign accomplished two things for young Lowe— it resulted in his election to the House of Delegates and it gave him a little reputation as speaker.

Gov. Philip Francis Thomas at about this time began determined battle for constitutional reform in Maryland, and Lowe promptly fell into line with the Democratic Governor in agitating the question of a new governmental instrument for the commonwealth. Thomas is properly credited with having contributed most toward a call for the Constitutional Convention of 1850-51, but Lowe was among his most faithful aids, and the Frederick county man won for himself a large measure of fame throughout the State.

When the State conventions met in 1850 it was very natural that the Democrats should choose as their standard-bearer Enoch Louis Lowe, who was by all means the most popular eliglble Democratic worker in the Western gubernatorial district, from which the nominees for Chief Magistrate were to come that year. The Whigs nominated William B. Clarke, of Washington county, and during the campaign the two candidates met occasionally in public debate.

YOUTHFUL GOVERNOR.

Lowe was but 29 years of age when nominated, but he reached the required age of 30 short while before the election, and was thus eligible for the candidacy. In the election he received a majority of 497 votes in the State, while Baltimore city —which gave its Whig Mayoralty candidate 777 more votes than his Democratic opponent— accorded Lowe a 2,759 majority. The success of Lowe, according to a contemporary, “was due in large part to the personal magnetism of the man and to his personal popularity with the struggling Democracy.”

While Candidate Lowe was making his fight for the Governorship, the people were determining whether or not there should be a constitutional convention. At the special election held in May 1850, the State decided to hold such a convention, but the number of votes polled showed that there was but small interest in the matter. In the following September delegates were chosen to the convention, and although Whigs and Democrats united in working for the desired reform. the convention as finally composed was Whiggish in complexion.

The convention assembled in Annapolis on November 4, 1850, and continued in session until May 13; 1851. The document which it devised to replace the amended Constitution of 1776, was only in a measure more satisfactory than the earlier Constitution. Its chief gain was in doing away with the many endless amendments to the l776 Constitution. The term of the Governor was extended from three to four years, while the apportionment in the Legislature was put upon on a more equitable basis.

The new Constitution was placed before the people almost before they had had the chance to read it, certainly before they had time fully to digest it, in an election on June 4, 1851 it was adopted by a large majority of the votes cast, although the total number of ballots was far below that polled at the average election.

HIS ADMINISTRATION.

Governor Lowe was inaugurated January 6, 1851, and remained in office until January 11, 1854. His administration, therefore, witnessed the change in the state government from the old Constitution to the Constitution of 1851. It also witnessed the completion of the Baltimore and Ohio railroad to the Ohio River, which according to the original plans of the promoters of the road was to have been the Western terminus of the line. His administration further witnessed the recovery of the State from the financial depression which it had felt for many years.

During the previous administration Gov. Philip Francis Thomas, while calling the People's attention to the improved financial state of affairs Maryland, had taken occasion to warn them against the danger of reducing the tax rates. Lowe, on the other hand, boldly advocated reduction in the amount of taxation, and 1853 the people of Maryland were required to pay only 15 cents on the $100, whereas in the several years prior thereto the annual rate had been 25 cents on the $100.

For several years after his retirement from the Executive Mansion Governor Lowe took an active part in politics. In the Presidential election of 1856 appeared as the champion of James Buchanan and was one of the leading spirits in the Democratic convention which nominated Lincoln's predecessor in the White House. In Maryland, however, the Know-Nothing, or American, party had acquired considerable strength, and its Presidential candidate, Millard Fillmore, received hearty support in the Commonwealth. Upon the induction of Buchanan to the office of President of the United States, Governor Lowe was named as Minister Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to China, but declined the honor.

HIS CRITICISM OF HICKS.

During the years intervening between retirement from the Governorship and the election of Lincoln, in 1860, Lowe watched with much interest the trend of national affairs and used his utmost influence to render every possible assistance to the South, He was prominent in the campaign of 1860, speaking for John C. Breckinridge, and whole energy at this time was bound up in the hope of protecting the South from any injury by the North. Indeed, on his solicitude for that section of the country which was dearest to his heart he seemed to have lost sight of his own personal interests.

When war finally began, Governor Lowe, after remaining for a short time in Maryland, took up his residence in Virginia— He been a witness of the early display of secessionist sentiment in Maryland and condemned in severest tones Governor Hicks for the part he played in Maryland during the first half of 1861. Shortly after moving to the Old Dominion Governor Lowe was invited by the Legislature of that State to occupy one of the privileged seats on the floor of the hall and in his acknowledgment addressed to a member of the General Assembly of Virginia, he asserted:

“I am perfectly convinced that [Maryland] would have left the old Union immediately had North Carolina and Virginia gone out when the cotton States seceded. Maryland had no arms, no ammunition, no military organization. Her false-hearted Governor had purposely left her to a defenseless condition, in order that be might without peril to himself deliver her up at the suitable time to be crucified and receive his 30 pieces of silver as the price of his unspeakable treachery.”

During the first year or more of the war Governor Lowe, from his temporary residence in Virginia, exerted all his influence to have the Confederacy assist Maryland to secede, professing to believe that the Old Line State simply awaited an opportunity to get out of the Union. He wrote, in December, 1861, that chiefly by the treachery of Hicks the people of Maryland had been prevented from taking any action until such time when the Federal Government was in a position to lay Baltimore in ruins.

EXPECTED STATE TO SECEDE.

But even then “loyal and gallant men were at times ready to bring a blackened ruin into the Southern Confederacy rather than to purchase immunity at the cost of public virtue and private honor; rather turn to wear the flowers and jewels of Oriental slavery. At this moment, with outstretched arms they stand upon their desecrated hearthstones, crying out to their Southern. brethren to give them an opportunity to pronounce this decision on the field of battle.

“God knows they love the sunny South as dearly as any of the Palmetto State. They idolize the chivalric honor, the stern and refined idea of free government, the social dignity and conservatism which characterize the Southern mind and heart, as enthusiastically as those of their Southern brethren who were born where the snows never fall.”

And he predicted that “the taint of Northern pelf and the ulcers of Northern red Republican demagogism will rapidly vanish as the old State passes through the furnace of affliction into which she had been cast by Lincoln, with a fiercer rage than had the idolatrous Nebuchadnezzar.

“We have never permitted ourselves to doubt that that flag [of the Confederacy] will at the proper time be advanced to the rescue of our people from the cruel thralldom. I speak what I know when I say that, the insolent mockeries of the Lincoln ballot box in Maryland, held by perjured serfs and upheld by their master's bayonets; despite the cringing falsehoods of official demagogues and purchased testimony or a recreant and suborned Executive; despite the clamor of a subsidized press and the pusillanimity of the mammon worshippers there has always been in a noble State an overwhelming majority of the people hostile to the Northern despots and devotedly attached to the cause of Southern independence and constitutional liberty.”

MOVED TO NEW YORK.

Those expressions of Governor Lowe were considered of sufficient importance by the State of Virginia for the Legislature of that State to have them put in pamphlet form and 5,000 copies printed for distribtion.

Throughout the war the former Chief Magistrate of Maryland remained in the Old Dominion, watching with all-absorbing attention the Southern republic as it slowly crumbled before the unceasing blows of the North. After the close of the war he returned to Maryland, but did not remain long in his native State. He continued to reside in the Old Line State from November, 1865, until May, 1866, when he removed to Brooklyn, N. Y., where he lived until the time of his death.

The downfall of the Confederacy wrought a mighty change in the life of Governor Lowe. Although he was prominent in his professional circles after the end of the conflict, he remained out of politics. He began his law practice in Brooklyn by forming a partnership, and his firm was retained for some time as counsel for the Erie Railroad Company. Upon the death of James Fiske, however, the connection was dissolved, and thereafter Lowe practiced law on his own account. He also attained some prominence as a lecturer, although he appeared to avoid as much as possible all publicity.

A correspondent writing from Brooklyn at the time of Governor Lowe's death asserted that “he lived a very retired life and outside the immediate circle of his family friends was hardly ever seen or heard of. It was often regretted here that Mr. Lowe did not take the public place his abilities and career warranted, but he seemed to care only for the peace and quiet of his family and home, and thus busied himself out of the sight and bustle of the busy world.”

His home circle consisted of Mrs. Lowe and a large family of children. Mr. Lowe married, on May 29. 1844, Esther Winder Polk, daughter of Col. James Polk, of Princess Anne. By her he was the father of 11 children, seven of whom and the mother survived the Governor, who died on August 23, 1892, at St. Mary's Hospital Brooklyn, where bad undergone an operation which proved unsuccessful. His body was removed to Frederick, Md., where it was interred on August 25. The memorial services were very simple, and at the request of the Governor's family no funeral sermon was preached.

HIS PLACE IN HISTORY.

In the gallery of Chief Magistrates of Maryland Governor Lowe occupies a position all his own. He was a man of exceptional refinement, cordial in manners and attractive in appearance. Like Daniel Martin, his early activities in public life gave promise of an exceedingly useful career. Death brought to a close Martin's life and left the promises unfulfilled, while the downfall of the Confederacy was chiefly responsible for the retirement of Lowe.

At the age of 30 Lowe had reached the highest official position in the State. He was ranked by a discriminating contemporary as “perhaps the greatest stump speaker of his day.” He was the popular leader of a popular party, but he cast his lot with a losing cause, and when the Confederacy fell his spirit was crushed beneath the ruins. And for the last 25 years of his life the man who had loved Maryland and the South as much, perhaps, as any Southerner in Civil War times, became a voluntary exile from his native State.

(copyright, 1907, by Heinrich Ewald Buchholz)

XXIX—Enoch Louis Lowe, Governors of Maryland: a Series of Biographies, by Heinrich Ewald Buchholz, The Balitmore Sun, March 31, 1907.

This article, expanded and revised, also appeared in:
Governors of Maryland, from the Revolution to the Year 1908, by Heinrich Ewald Buchholz, 1908.