Siyar al-mutaʾakhkhirin 26.4.4

26.4.4

Their duty was to inhabit such cities and towns as were the seats of command and Government, to the end that they might have it in their power to write down at day-break such events as should have happened the whole day and night before, and to send the paper to the Emperor. There were posts established, that carried the dispatches, with all speed, and in all weathers, to Court, where a Daroga or Inspector examined the same; after which he reduced to a concise exposition the substance of such as deserved the Imperial notice, presenting at the same time, the whole detail as forwarded by the provincial intelligencers. Nevertheless whatever amongst those papers was addressed personally to the Emperor, was sacred, and could not be set open by any other hand than his own. It was perused by the Monarch himself, who alone could break the seal, and he alone ordered what he thought proper about the contents. By these means the Emperor was informed of every private man's affairs. He knew what one had done to his neighbours at four hundred leagues from Court, and what the latter had done to others; and what such an one wanted from such another, and what this other pretended from his antagonist; he knew all that, and gave directions accordingly. Nor was it uncommon for him to be informed by such a channel of the requests and wishes of the concerned ones;