“Tafari Makonnen, grew up in the old city of Harar, where he was educated by French missionary monks and thus came to master both spoken and written French. He was an intelligent and ambitious boy with a thirst for knowledge, and at an early age showed an aptitude for statesmanship and for military affairs. When his father died in 1906, Tafari Makonnen succeeded him as Governor of Harar, and with great energy set himself to improve and develop the province now entrusted to him. (…)
From the beginning of his co-reign Ras Tafari sought to follow the principles laid down by the Emperor Menelik; that is to say, to preserve his country’s independence, to raise the material and intellectual levels of his people, and, in order to make this possible, to strengthen and consolidate the position of the central Government. In the fulfilment of this he had many difficulties to overcome. The foreign situations was disquieting. During the Great War those Powers which are Abyssinia’s neighbours tried in many ways to interfere with the nation’s politics. By cleverly playing off one against another, however, Ras Tafari was able to keep a free hand and prevent any one of his neighbours gaining too much of a hold over his country.
Home affairs were no less threatening. As in the case of Lij Yassu, Ras Tafari’s promotion aroused envy and anger among the other pretenders. His plain intention to gather the power into his own hand, and also his efforts at reform, met with bitter opposition. His position was rendered still more difficult by the fact that the Empress, coerced by powerful rases and by the ultra-conservative priesthood which feared and hated all reforms, began to mistrust her co-ruler and to oppose his efforts. (…)
On April 8th, 1930, Negus Tafari ascended the Abyssinian throne as Emperor Haile Selassie I, and seven months later the coronation took place with great ceremonial, in the presence of representatives of many foreign nations. (…)
By his wisdom, self-control, energy, courage and shrewdness the Emperor Haile Selassie had found his way round the obstacles which beset him; but in his fight for power he had also shown humanity and nobility of character. Apart from those enemies of his who fell in battle, their weapons in their hands, he had never taken anyone’s life. (…) Of the remaining former adversaries, not named here, some indeed are still in prison, but many others have been reinstated in their positions and are the Emperor’s loyal allies. The streak of hardness and cruelty, characteristic of so many Oriental autocrats, is altogether lacking in the present Emperor of Abyssinia.
When the Emperor Haile Selassie I ascended the throne of his fathers he was mature; a grown man, hardened and tried in life’s school. During his long period of regency he had accumulated experience and ability whih well fitted him for his high office. In order to increase his knowledge still further, and to absorb new ideas, he made an extensive tour through Europe in 1924, in the course of which he visited Sweden. Knowledge gained on this tour he has since endeavoured to make fruitful in his Empire, and to that end he has invoked the aid of counsellors and helpers from those European countries which he considered ranked highest from both intellectual and material points of view.
As early as 1923, in spite of great opposition, the co-ruler, as he still was, acting as his own Foreign Secretary, succeeded in obtaining recognition for Abyssinia as a member of the League of Nations. On that occasion he undertook to abolish slavery within his realm – a promise which to the greatest extent yet possible he has striven to fulfil. All slave traffic is forbidden and punished very severely. (…)
From the earliest times the imperial power has been unlimited, and varied only with the ability of the monarch to enforce it. No statutes of laws defining of modifying the authority of the throne existed until July 16th, 1931, when the Emperor Haile Selassie I gave the land a constitution. (…)
Although this constitution leaves the power in the Emperor’s hands, it is remarkable from many points of view. By it the monarch sets up the law as the highest standard to which he too must conform, and at the same time renounces the right to make that law. then also the constitution determines the freedom and privileges of the citizen, and affirms the right of all who are deserving and competent to serve the State. All these are principles which we take as a matter of course, but in a feudal State like that of Abyssinia, where noble birth has hitherto been almost the only consideration, they represent a revolution in social ideas. (…)
It is true that always in his foreign policy the Emperor has sought to place justice above force. On many occasions he has stressed his willingness to submit delicate questions of foreign policy to impartial arbitration. (…)
Another field in which the Emperor has been very active is, as before mentioned, that of education. He has called in education authorities from abroad, and, with the help of the Empress, has founded a number of schools and colleges for both male and female students. (…)
In his efforts to raise the intellectual and material standards of his people the Emperor has had two great obstacles to contend with: the lack of competent assistants and the difficulty of raising the necessary funds.
For the carrying out of reforms pioneers are needed. The Emperor Haile Selassie himself – wise, clear-sighted, clever and energetic – is an example to his people, working from early morning until late at night. Unhappily the same cannot be said of most of his officials. (…) The result is that the Emperor has been obliged to give personal attention to nearly all affairs of state, and to settle details.” (…)
A great burden of work and responsibility rests on Emperor Haile Selassie’s shoulders. When one sees his slim figure, his unusually small and well-shaped hands, his finely cut features and his melancholy eyes for the first time, one finds it hard to believe that it is this man who has striven so mightily and won his way to power with such energy and endurance and who now leads with wisdom and strength his country’s destiny. Yet when one has had the opportunity of coming nearer to him, of watching his keen intellect, his wise and unclouded thoughts, of witnessing his limitless capacity for work and his dignified calm in moments of difficulty or emergency, one finds it easier to understand how he has attained his position, and of what significance he is, not only for his own country, but also in political situations far beyond its borders. It is said that no one is indispensable, but without exaggeration it may be affirmed that there is no man in Abyssinia to-day who could fully replace the Emperor. With him rests the to-be or not-to-be of the Empire, its inner unity, its outward strength and its future. With greater justice than even ‘le Roi Soleil’, the Emperor Haile Selassie might say, ‘L’état, c’est moi!’.”
(Taken from “The Abyssinia I Knew”, General Virgin, London 1936)
