[5] Couperus was also active as a composer in his youth as well as later in his life; during his time at the Athenaeum Illustre of Amsterdam he visited the French opera, played the piano, sang and took lessons in harmony and composition.

Reinhold jr. (Amsterdam);[6] He also made compositions for family use only and wrote poetry, including but not limited to: Illusions d'un Étudiant and Sea Thoughts (written while on his way to the Dutch East Indies in 1837).

He received his PhD on the thesis De conditione servorum apud romanos (Concerning the condition of slaves in the Roman Empire); during this period of his life, acting Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies Pieter Merkus (1787–1844) had great influence on Couperus.

[8] The Governor-General was, in fact, Couperus' uncle by marriage as the husband of his aunt, Wilhelmina Nicolasina Cranssen, the legitimated daughter of his maternal grandfather by a native, Ambonese mistress.

[3] Couperus left for the Dutch East Indies in 1837 and arrived in November 1837 by steamboat Castor from Batavia at Surabaya.

[10] In October 1839 Couperus joined the military campaign against Kota Gedang, which was commanded by general Andreas Victor Michiels.

[13] In the position of legal assistant in October 1844 Couperus was placed at the Court of Justice in Padang and also appointed as an official for military affairs.

Here he was an eyewitness to a fight where part of an infantry platoon was attacked by a large group of armed natives and killed.

Padang was called to a state of emergency and in his position as an official of military affairs Couperus ordered an investigation.

[30] Couperus wrote his brochure on the occasion of the session of the House of Representatives, held 15, 16 and 17 October 1860, where the issue of the regulation of the sugar industry was discussed.

[30] He also wrote that the Dutch government only had the objective to terminate the Cultivation System and to proceed with free labour when was proven that by means of five purification measures, determined by the government, and applied during a slow transition state, the Cultivation System was no longer maintainable and inefficient.

[36] There were several reasons why Couperus returned to the Dutch East Indies in 1872 but the consequences of the Agricultural Law of 1870 on his own property were among them.

In his brochures Couperus called Baud an example of the ultra-conservative party who was willing to improve the culture system but who was also determined to maintain it.

In 1883 it was decided to sell the family property of Tjicoppo; with his part of the profits in hand Couperus gave order to build the house at Surinamestraat 20, The Hague.

[41] Around this time Couperus wrote a family history, which he ended with the words: Keep your eyes on the past and see to it that the future will never ashame us.