Sir Richard then tells Lord Ker there are post horses for him, and, if he will not take them, himself will make his lordship fast and take from him the queen's letters, send them to His Majesty, and do his errand, which would be little to his lordship's advantage; whereupon the Lord Ker cools a little, and, grumbling at being thus thwarted, takes the horses provided for him, and away he posts." The Justices were well aware of the advantage of being early in the field with their account of this business; and accordingly they forthwith wrote a statement of the whole matter to their Lord-Lieutenant, Lord Salisbury, who was then with the king in the North, and which "they sent post after the lord, to be at Court so soon as he should be." The better to keep up communications between the king, then in the North, and the governing powers in Ireland, a packet was at this time employed between Whitehaven and Dublin. The agreement with the master, Nicholas Herbert, was that his barque should be provided "with one sufficient master and other meet and able sailors" ... "to carry the letters of His Majesty or the Council to the Lord Deputy at Dublin, and shall receive £10 per lunar month." As has already been remarked, there is reason to suppose that Witherings had come to have leanings towards the Parliamentarians, a posture which would alienate him from the Court party. At anyrate, on the 29th July 1640, the office held by Witherings was sequestered by the king's privy seal into the hands of Philip Burlamachi, "who was directed by proclamation to execute the office." The proclamation here referred to is probably that dated the 6th August 1640. The first clause sets forth the reason for the proceeding as follows:--"Whereas we have received information of divers abuses and misdemeanours committed by Thomas Witherings in the execution as well of the office of Postmaster of Foreign Parts as also of the Letter Office within our own dominions, and thereupon have been pleased to sequester the said office into the hands of P. Burlamachi of London, merchant, who is to execute the same, under the care and oversight of our Principal Secretary of State, till we shall signify our pleasure to the contrary; and have accordingly declared the same under our royal hand and signet, and commanded our said Secretary to see the sequestration put into speedy execution, and to take such course that neither our service nor the business of the merchants nor our other subjects might thereby receive any prejudice or interruption." In pursuance of this ordinance the business of the post was removed from Witherings' offices to other premises.