Congress met in May, 1775, and word having come that Chatham’s conciliation bill had been rejected, and that Britain was about to send an army to suppress the American rebellion, this body assumed sovereign prerogatives.  They began at once to organize an army; Washington was elected Commander-in-chief, and they ordered that five thousand men be raised to protect New York, as the point most exposed.  The royal troops were expelled, and the city placed in command of General Charles Lee, an English soldier of fortune, who had fought in many lands and brought to the raw army an experience which might have been of inestimable service, had he been high-minded, or even well balanced.  As it was, he very nearly sacrificed the cause to his jealousy of Washington and to his insane vanity.

Hamilton, meanwhile, published his two pamphlets on the Quebec Bill, and took part in a number of public debates.  At one of these, as he rose to speak, a stranger remarked, “What brings that lad here?  The poor boy will disgrace himself.”  But the merchants, who were present in force, listened intently to all he had to say on the non-importation agreement, and admitted the force of his arguments toward its removal, now that war practically had been declared.  One of the most interesting of the phenomena in the career of Hamilton was the entire absence of struggle for an early hearing.  People recognized his genius the moment they came in contact with it, and older men saw only the extraordinary and mature brain, their judgement quite unaffected by the boyish face and figure.  Those who would not admit his great gifts were few, for except in the instances where he incurred jealous hate, he won everybody he met by his charming manner and an entire absence of conceit.  He was conscious of his powers, but took them as a matter of course, and thought only of what he would do with them, having no leisure to dwell on their quality.  In consequence, he already had a large following of unhesitating admirers, many of them men twice his age, and was accepted as the leading political philosopher of the country.

Dr. Cooper sent for him after his third pamphlet.  He, too, was a patriot in his way, and although he bristled whenever Hamilton’s name was mentioned, he had come in contact with too many minds not to recognize ability of any sort; he knew that Hamilton would be invaluable to the Royalist cause.

“Ask your own price, sir,” he said, after suggesting the higher service to which he could devote his pen.  “You will find us more liberal—­” But Hamilton had bolted.  It is impossible to knock down one’s venerable president, and his temper was still an active member in the family of his faculties.  To the numerous other offers he received from the Tory side he made no reply, beyond inserting an additional sting into his pen when writing for Holt’s Journal.  In the press he was referred to, now, as “The Vindicator of Congress,” and it was generally conceded that he had done more to hasten matters to a climax, by preparing and whetting the public mind, than anyone else in America.