There was cause for concern.

The raw and ill-disciplined levies of the French, having at the outbreak of the Revolutionary wars most unexpectedly turned back the invading armies of Austria and Prussia, and having, after campaigns full of dramatic changes, shaken off the peril of the crushing of the fatherland by a huge European combination, were now waging an offensive war in Holland.

Pichegru, the French commander, though not a soldier by training, secured astonishing successes, and, in the thick of a winter of exceptional severity, led his ragged and ill-fed army on to victory after victory, until the greater part of Holland lay conquered within his grip.
In January he entered Amsterdam.

There was a strong element of Republican feeling among the Dutch, and an alliance with France was demanded.
When this condition of things was reported in England, Hunter was alarmed for the safety of the colony which he was about to govern.

The Cape of Good Hope was a Dutch possession.