By 1796 he had moved to Curaçao and was serving as an officer. During the British occupation from 1800 until 1803 he served in government for the British and had renounced his oath to the Batavian Republic (The Netherlands). Because of that he was put in front of a Military Tribunal in the Netherlands. They wanted to banish him for the Republic and all of its possessions but instead he was dismissed because it turns out he had already resigned from office before the occupation. In 1815 he rejoined the military as a Captain in the 22nd Infantry Battalion in Java.