 In 1861 he was promoted to major-general, commanding divisions in Limburg and Noord-Brabant until he temporarily went into politics in 1869.He was a Liberal, unlike many of his colleagues, and as such not very popular with king William III of the Netherlands (who had succeeded his father William II in 1850).Probably because of his political leanings he had been offered the post of Minister of War in a Liberal Cabinet in 1862, but he declined.