The quick way of obtaining what you want is:
julia> N[[1],:] 1×2 Array{Int64,2}: 1 2
I,e. instead of giving a scalar index, pass a collection of indices for slicing, like when you do N[1:2,:] - although that collection has only one index.
N[1:2,:]
Longer explanation of why is it like that in a recent discussion: