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The Green Bag.

THE COURT OF APPEALS OF MARYLAND. II. By Eugene L. Didier. AT a general state election in Maryland, on the 6th of November, 186 1, Richard J. Bowie, of Montgomery County, was elected one of the judges of the Court

of Appeals, and com missioned Chief Jus tice by the Governor. A long and interest ing public and pro fessional career had well prepared him for the highest pro fessional .honor in the the State. Born in Georgetown, D. C, on the 23d of June, 1807, he was educa ted at the university of his native city; and, after acquiring a liberal education, studied law in the o f fice of Clement Cox of Georgetown. He was admitted to the Bar before he had completed his nine RICHARD teenth year, a cir cumstance almost unprecedented in the an nals of the American Bar. Immediately after his admission, he removed to Rockville, Montgomery County, Md., where his re markable talents, close attention to business, legal learning, forensic eloquence, and cour teous manners brought him, in a few years, a large and lucrative practice. In politics, he was a Whig, and Henry Clay was his idol. In 1835-6-7, he was elected to the Maryland Senate, and in

1840 was a delegate to the Whig Con vention at Harrisburg, where he made a powerful appeal for the nomination of Henry Clay as a candidate for the Presi dency. As all stu dents of our political history well know,. William Henry Har rison was nominated. Mr. Bowie took an active part in the ex citing campaign which followed; he traversed the whole state, making speech es, urging the elec tion of the Whig can didate. In 1845 Mr. Bowie was elected prosecuting attorney for Montgomery County, and held that office until 1849, when he was elect ed to Congress. He made his first speech in the House of Rep J. BOWIE, resentatives in favor of Henry Clay's celebrated Compromise Measures of 1850. He took a prominent part in the discussion of the important meas ures brought before Congress, during the four years that he sat in the House, from 1849 to 1853. His talents and oratory reflected honor upon himself and credit upon his State during that most eventful period of our country's history. In 1854 Mr. Bowie was nominated by the Whig party for Governor of Maryland.