38 



MONOPTERAL TEMl'LES MONROE. 



giving an author the exclusive right to the publica- 

 tion of his own work, for a limited number of years, 

 makes no grant ; it is only allowing him what is his 

 own, for a limited time. But the exclusive right to 

 Uie use of an invention or improvement, is a mono- 

 poly, since it deprives others, for that period, of the 

 chance of the advantage of making the same improve- 

 ment, discovery, or invention themselves. It is tak- 

 ing avray a right which they before had. The rea- 

 son for this is, the encouragement of inventions and 

 improvements, in the policy of which all the world 

 concur. This is the only kind of monopoly generally 

 acknowledged to be u-eful and expedient. 



MONOPTERAL TEMPLES. See Architecture. 



MONOTHEISM ; the belief in, and worship of a 

 single God, opposed to a plurality of gods (polythe- 

 ism). The most ancient written records (the Bible), 

 and the traditions of the most ancient nations, give 

 us cause to regard this religion (in an imperfect state 

 indeed) as the oldest and original religion. The 

 Mosaic annals speak of God as the Creator of hea- 

 ven and earth ; and the ancient doctrines of the 

 Bramins speak of a single divine nature holding pre- 

 eminence over the three other principal divinities, 

 which are to be regarded, as it were, as the three chief 

 energies of a supreme God, viz. of the Parabrama, 

 who is fully and clearly set forth, with all the attri- 

 butes of divinity. The Chaldeans, also, besides the 

 light which they opposed to darkness, believed in a 

 higher increate light, which is eternal, almighty, wise, 

 and good, and from which first proceeded the corpo- 

 real light. The Persians placed above their Ormuzd 

 and Ahriman their Zeruanon Akherme, and the 

 eternal word. Even the Egyptians had, in their 

 Eikton, a Supreme Being, at least for their secret 

 religion. All the different mythologies have, among 

 the host of gods with which they people heaven and 

 earth, some supreme God, more or less defined, but, 

 in every case, distinguished above the others. And 

 in every instance we see, in these mythologies, the 

 gods gradually multiplied, as man departed, farther 

 and farther, from the simple and original revelation, 

 till lost in the multitude of deified personifications 

 which he had himself created ; but even in the case 

 of the most refined polytheism, there always remains 

 an idea of something more powerful, to which even 

 the gods are subject, as the Fate of the ancients. 

 The altar at Athens, " to the unkriown God," men- 

 tioned in the Acts of the Apostles, is also a proof of 

 the prevalence of the same feeling. Reflecting 

 minds, too, were always found, who deviated from the 

 national polytheism, as the heathen philosophers, 

 Parmenides, Socrates, Plato, &c., and many later 

 Platonists, the Egyptian philosopher Psammon, who, 

 according to Plutarch (Life of Alexander), inculcated 

 the doctrine that God is the general Father of all 

 men, choosing the best of them for his children. 

 The history or the Hebrews affords the most striking 

 instance of the preservation of monotheism amid the 

 corruptions of paganism. Notwithstanding the 

 errors into which they were frequently led by the 

 example of the nations around them, they still pre- 

 served the idea of one God, the Creator of heaven 

 and earth, till, from their view of Jehovah, whom 

 they regarded and adored, for the most part, only as 

 the original God of the chosen people, was unfolded 

 the purer and more comprehensive monotheism of 

 Christianity. 



MONOTHELITE. See Maronites. 



MONROE, JAMES, one of the presidents of the 

 United States of America, was born April 28, 1758, 

 in Westmoreland county, Virginia, on the Potomac, 

 on land of which, a century and a half before, his 

 ancestor, who first migrated to this country, was the 

 original grantee. He was educated at William and 



Mary college, and, in 1776, entered the revolutionary 

 army as a cadet. He was soon after appointed a 

 lieutenant, and, in the summer of that year, marched 

 to New York, and joined the army under the com- 

 mand of general Washington. He was engaged in 

 the battle of Harlem Heights, in that of While 

 Plains, in the retreat through the Jerseys, and in the 

 attack on Trenton. In the last, he was in the van- 

 guard, and received a ball through his left shoulder. 

 For his conduct in this action, he was promoted to a 

 captaincy. General Wilkinson, in his Memoirs, 

 bears strong testimony to the gallantry and zeal of 

 Mr Monroe, in the New Jersey campaign. He was 

 soon after appointed aid to lord Sterling, and served 

 in that capacity during the campaigns of 1777 and 

 1778, and was engaged in the actions of Brandywine, 

 Germantown, and Monmouth. He distinguished 

 himself in these actions. By entering the family of 

 lord Sterling, he lost his rank in the line, which he 

 was anxious to regain ; but, as this could not be 

 regularly done, Washington recommended him to 

 the legislature of Virginia, who authorized the rais- 

 ing of a regiment, and gave him the command. In 

 the exhausted state of Virginia, colonel Monroe 

 failed to raise his regiment, and therefore resumed 

 the study of the law, under the direction of Thomas 

 Jefferson, then governor of Virginia. He was active 

 as a volunteer in the militia, in the subsequent inva 

 sions of Virginia, and, in 1780, visited the southern 

 army, under De Kalb, as a military commissioner, at 

 the request of governor Jefferson. In 1782, he was 

 elected a member of the Virginia assembly, and, the 

 same year, by that body, a member of the executive 

 council, and, in 1783, at the age of twenty-four, a 

 member of the old congress, in which he served 

 three years. He was always at his post, engaged in 

 the most arduous duties. He introduced a resolu- 

 tion to vest in congress the power to regulate the 

 trade with all the states, and other important resolu- 

 tions. He was appointed a commissioner to settle 

 the controversy between New York and Massachu- 

 setts. In 1787, he was again returned to the as- 

 sembly of Virginia, and, in 1788, was a member of 

 the convention of that state, to decide on the present 

 constitution of the United States. In 1790, he was 

 elected a member of the senate of the United States, 

 in which body he served until 1794. In May, 1794, 

 he was appointed minister plenipotentiary to France. 

 Mr Monroe was recalled from this mission in 1796, 

 by president Washington, with an implied censure. 

 In 1799, on the nomination of Mr Madison, he was 

 appointed governor of Virginia, in which situation 

 he served the constitutional term of three years. In 

 1803, he was appointed minister extraordinary to 

 France, to act in conjunction with Mr Livingston, 

 the minister resident there. This mission was of the 

 greatest consequence to the United States, as it ter- 

 minated in the acquisition of Louisiana. In the same 

 year, he was appointed minister to London, and the 

 next year to Spain. In 1806, in conjunction with the 

 late William Pinkney, he was appointed minister to 

 London, where he pursued the negotiations with the 

 Fox ministry. Mr Monroe, having been prominently 

 brought forward as a candidate for the presidency, as 

 successor to Mr Jefferson, had an option given him 

 to remain at the court of London, or return. He 

 returned, but soon after withdrew from the canvass. 

 In 1810, he was again elected a member of the. 

 assembly of Virginia, and, in a few weeks after the 

 meeting of that body, governor of that state. Nov. 

 26, 1811, he was appointed secretary of state. The 

 war department being in a very embarrassed state, 

 on the departure of its head, general Armstrong, Mr 

 Monroe undertook it, and made extraordinary and 

 very useful exertions to help the war on the lakes. 



