They fought the French, but were unable to prevent the Fall of Bergen-op-Zoom, a major Dutch fortress, and the war was brought to a halt by an armistice.

His career received a major boost when he was chosen, at the suggestion of Wolfe, to act as a guide to The 3rd Duke of Richmond during a tour of the battlefields of the recent war.

The army was forced to retreat following the Battle of Hastenbeck and eventually concluded the Convention of Klosterzeven, taking them out of the war.

King George II declined to make this appointment, possibly because of negative comments he made about the soldiers of Hanover during his service on the Continent.

For some time he was unable to gain active position, until he was sent back to Germany to serve as an aide-de-camp to Duke Ferdinand of Brunswick.

On 7 April 1766, Carleton was named acting Lieutenant Governor and Administrator of Quebec with James Murray officially in charge.

As Carleton had no experience in public affairs and came from a politically insignificant family, his appointment is unusual and was possibly a surprise to him.

Carleton tried to replace this system with one in which the officials received a regular salary, but this position was never supported in London.

On 9 August 1770 he sailed for England for what he thought was a few months' consultation on issues related to the integration of Quebec into the British system.

During his absence, Hector Theophilus de Cramahé, the lieutenant governor, ran the provincial government, with the aid of the first chief justice, William Hey, and the Attorney-General, Francis Maseres.

It determined how the province was to be administered and was part of a continuing effort to respect some French traditions while ensuring rights of citizens as understood by the Kingdom of Great Britain.

Many of the habitants were unhappy with the provisions reinstating the tithe in support of the Catholic Church, as well as seigneurial obligations, such as the corvée (a labor requirement).

In late 1774, the First Continental Congress sent letters to Montreal denouncing the Quebec Act for promoting Catholicism by allowing Catholics to hold civil service positions and reinstating the tithe.

John Brown, an agent for the Boston Committee of Correspondence, arrived in Montreal in early 1775 as part of an effort to persuade citizens to send delegates to the Second Continental Congress, scheduled to meet in May 1775.

Carleton, while aware of this activity, did nothing to prevent it, beyond discouraging publication of the Congressional letter in the province's only newspaper.

His attempts to raise a militia met with limited success at first, as neither the ethnic French nor the English residents were willing to join.

When it fell in November, Carleton was forced to flee from Montreal to Quebec City, escaping capture by disguising himself as a commoner.

In December 1775 he directed the city's defences in the Battle of Quebec and the ensuing siege, which was broken by the arrival of British troops in May 1776 under command of John Burgoyne, who was appointed second-in-command.

Guy Carleton launched a counteroffensive against the rebels, which included repelling an attempted attack on Trois-Rivières.

[14] The next month Carleton commanded British naval forces on the Richelieu River, culminating in the Battle of Valcour Island on Lake Champlain in October 1776 against a rebel fleet led by General Benedict Arnold.

With this news, Loyalists began an exodus from the Thirteen Colonies and Carleton did his best to have them resettled outside the United States.

In May[19] he had met with George Washington, among others, to arrange for the implementation of those parts of the Treaty of Paris relating to the evacuation of New York City, then commanded by Carleton and still occupied by the British Army, many Loyalists and former slaves.

Instead, he proposed a registry so that "the owners might eventually be paid for the slaves who were entitled to their freedom by British Proclamation and promises."

[20] The British transported about 3,000 freedmen and other Black Loyalists to Nova Scotia, The Bahamas, and as far away as Germany for resettlement in the evacuation of New York City in November 1783 alone.

"[21] Washington, who worked to re-enslave free Black Loyalists (which included former slaves at Mount Vernon), strenuously disagreed with Sir Guy's actions and wrote: "…the measure is totally different from the letter and spirit of the Treaty but waiving the specialty of the point, leaving this decision to our respective Sovereigns I find it my duty to signify my readiness in conjunction with you to enter into agreements, or take any measures which may be deemed expedient to prevent the future carrying away any Negroes or other property of the American people.

"[22] On 28 November the evacuation was finished, and on 5 December Carleton departed from Staten Island[23] to return to England.

Upon his return to England, Carleton recommended the creation of a position of Governor General of all the provinces in British North America.