Owing to the war with England there was no communication between South Africa and the Netherlands for more than a year, and until the 1st of April 1782 the replies of the officers of the Cape government to the charges made against them by the burghers could not be sent away. When these documents reached the Netherlands they were referred by the directors to the committee which had the case under examination. One of them attracted special attention. This was the statement of the fiscal, the tone of which convinced the directors that Mr. Boers was not an officer who could safely be left in power. They therefore agreed without hesitation to his request to resign his duties, but required him to furnish bail to the amount of a little over £1,000 if he should leave the colony for Europe before the charges against him were decided. He retired from office in April 1783. Mr. Jan Jacob Serrurier was instructed by the council to act as fiscal, and in November 1784 he received from the prince of Orange the permanent appointment.

The principles of Mr. Boers have been commented upon, but another instance of the manner in which he put them in practice may be given. During the war there was such a scarcity of blankets and rough cloth in the colony that the slaves were almost naked. Thereupon several enterprising persons formed the idea of manufacturing blankets and cloth at the Cape, and a company was got together prepared to risk the necessary capital.