A more singular contrast of good and evil was perhaps never presented
than in the person and administration of the Christian despot. Avarice,
suspicion, caprice, duplicity, and superstition, appear to form the
basis of his chequered character, and his every act exhibits a
proportion of meanness and selfishness, linked with a desire to appear
munificent. Yet are these radically bad ingredients tempered and
concealed by some amiable and excellent qualities. His virtues are many
as they are conspicuous: his faults entail harm chiefly upon himself;
and the appropriation of the greater portion of his hours might be held
up as a worthy pattern for imitation.
During the entire forenoon of every day in the week, the Sabbath and
Saturday excepted, which latter, as a remnant of Jewish religion, is
universally reverenced, is he engaged in public affairs--in trying
appeals, and in deciding suits which are brought from all quarters of
his dominions. Notwithstanding the impediments offered by a weak
constitution, and by many bodily infirmities prematurely brought on by
excess, he leads a life of constant activity, and, both as respects his
public and his private avocations, stands greatly distinguished above
other Abyssinian rulers, who too justly incur the reproach of idleness
and perpetual debauchery.
After the religious performance of his matin devotions, the king
inspects his stables and workshops, bestows charity upon the assembled
poor, despatches couriers, and accords private audiences of importance.
Then reclining in state upon the throne, he listens for hours to all
appeals brought against the decisions of his judges, and adjusts in
public the tangled disputes and controversies of his subjects. Here
access is easy. Sahela Selassie listens to all, foreigners or natives,
men and women, rich and poor. Every one possesses the right to appear
before him, and boldly to explain the nature of his case; and although
the established usage of the land compels the subject to prostrate
himself, and to pay rather adoration than respect, yet may he urge his
complaint without the least hesitation or timidity. Judgment is always
prompt, and generally correct; nor will the observer be less struck with
the calmness and placidity that mark the royal demeanour in the midst of
the most boisterous discussions, than at the method and perspicuity with
which such manifold affairs are disposed of; and whilst thus receiving
the most favourable impression of His Majesty's capacity for the
transaction of business, a parallel might be drawn between his demeanour
and that of many more civilised monarchs, which would be flattering to
the semi-barbarous ruler of Shoa.
At three o'clock the king proceeds to dine alone; and no sooner is the
royal appetite appeased, than the doors are thrown open, and the long
table in the great banqueting-hall is crowded with distinguished
warriors and guests. Harpers and fiddlers perform during the entire
entertainment, and singers lift up their voices in praise of the
munificence and liberality of their sovereign, who, during all this
scene of confusion and turmoil, still continues to peruse letters or to
issue instructions, until the board has been thrice replenished and as
often cleared, and until all of a certain rank have freely partaken of
his hospitality. At five he retires with a few of those who enjoy the
largest share of intimacy, to the private apartments. Prayers and
potent liquors fill up the evening hours, and the company depart,
leaving the favourite page who is made the bearer of the royal commands.
Midnight calls His Majesty from his couch to the perusal of psalms and
sacred writings. A band of sturdy priests in the antechamber continue
during the livelong night to chant a noisy chorus of hymns to preserve
his slumbers from the influence of evil spirits or apparitions, and
daylight brings a repetition of the busy scene, which is diversified by
exercise on horseback, whenever leisure and the fickle sky will permit.
Making excursions with from four to five hundred mounted followers, it
is then his wont to sit for hours on the splashy banks of some
sequestered brook, conversing familiarly with those about him,
witnessing the exercise of his stud, and devoting every spare moment to
the numerous petitioners who crowd with complaints around the royal
person.
Dreading the fate of his father, the monarch never stirs from his
threshold without a pistol concealed under his girdle along with his
favourite amulet, in which he reposes implicit faith and reliance. His
couch is nightly surrounded by tried and trusty warriors, endeared to
his person by munificence displayed to no other class of his subjects,
whilst the gates of the palace are barred after the going down of the
sun, and stoutly guarded.
The principal officers of the royal household, and those most confided
in by the suspicious monarch, are the eunuchs. Ayto Baimoot, their late
chief, was specially charged with the royal harem, in all its branches,
as well as with the establishment of slaves. Long faithfully attached
to his indulgent master, he was, whilst he lived, the king's only
intimate counsellor, and was never separated from his person.
Next in order is the herald, or Dech Agafari, who, in addition to the
important duties already detailed, is the channel through whom all new
appointments by the crown and all royal edicts and proclamations are
published to the nation. Armed with a rod of green rushes, he ushers
into the presence-chamber all officials, strangers, and visitors,
introducing at the appointed time those who have complaints or
representations to lay at the footstool of the throne. He is the Alaka
of all who have any boon to crave, and is in charge of the host of pages
and younger sons of the nobility who attend upon the king--is in general
master of the ceremonies on occasions of state or pageant, and
introduces guests who may be invited to the banquet.
The keys of the royal library are in the custody of the chief of the
Church, the Alaka Wolda Georgis, a layman and a soldier, who was
elevated to the exalted post he occupies in direct violation of the
established usage of the country. The office of chief smith and Alaka
of all the _tabiban_, "wise people," or handicraftsmen, throughout the
realm, and of Body Physician, are concentrated in the person of Ayto
Habti, who must freely partake of all drugs that are to be administered
to the king, and, with the Commander-in-Chief of the Body-Guard, the
Master of the Horse, and the dwarf Father Confessor, be in constant
attendance upon His Majesty.
As well from religious as from worldly motives, Sahela Selassie
entertains a vast number of pensioners, who receive _dirgo_, or daily
rations, in various proportions--some being limited to dry bread, whilst
others extend to mead, the greatest luxury which the country can afford.
The distribution of this maintenance comes exclusively within the
province of the Purveyor-General, the food being prepared in the royal
kitchen by the numerous slaves, who, shame to the Christian monarch,
compose the entire household establishment. All foreigners and visitors
receive it; and, in addition to about one thousand of this class, there
are many besides who possess the privilege of always dining at the royal
table.
Making munificent donations to churches and monasteries, the king stands
in high odour with the fanatic clergy, and thus enjoys the advantage of
their influence over the priest-ridden population, whom he rules
principally through the church; and, never undertaking any project
without consulting some of its members, is in turn much swayed by their
exhortations, prophecies, dreams, and visions. Strongly attached to the
Christianity of Ethiopia, which abounds in Jewish prejudices, he is
still far from being intolerant. According to the best of his
uncultivated ideas he encourages letters, and spends considerable sums
of money in collecting ancient manuscripts. Possessing natural talents
and shrewdness, which have been improved by the rudiments of education,
he rules his hereditary dominions with tact and advantage; and might,
had his energies been properly directed, have shone one of the greatest
potentates that ever wielded the sceptre in the now disorganised empire.
Were the active life of Sahela Selassie guided by superior principles--
could he be brought to despise petty things, and to sink the details of
unimportant affairs in matters of greater moment--how wealthy and
powerful a monarch might he not still become! He would have time at
command to plan truly royal projects; and, possessed as he is of means
the most ample, would find leisure to carry through his designs.
Although, like other rulers of Abyssinia, he is ever entertaining some
project of aggrandisement, his mind is yet filled with trifles, and not
sufficiently expanded to mature a plan of operations upon an extended
scale. Precluded by want of liberal education or of intercourse with
civilised nations, from calculating events, or looking deep into the
page of futurity, he lives in fact for little beyond the present day.
Old in constitution, though not in years--enfeebled by excess, as well
in mind as in body--uncivilised--called early to the throne, and ruling
during a long succession of years according to one unvarying system--the
dictates of his own caprice--he requires some violent impulse, some
imminent and apparent peril, to arouse him from the torpor of security,
to stimulate his latent energies to greater exertion, and to induce him
temporarily to sacrifice a portion of his idolised gold, in order to
reap a harvest five hundred fold.
From the merciful hand of this unique specimen of absolute authority,
the sceptre falls lightly upon the head of the offender. "I have before
mine eyes the fear of God," is his frequent exclamation when passing the
extreme sentence of the law. Guilty of none of the cruelties or
enormities which stain most of the other rulers of Abyssinia--
accessible, not easily offended, even-tempered, patient in his
investigations, mild and usually just in his despotism--he is
universally adored in his own dominions, rather through love than
through fear. The oath by the life of the king is the only binding
obligation in the land; and from the general success of his military
expeditions, he is feared and respected by all the adjacent tribes.
Conducting himself with that easy freedom which generally distinguishes
conscious superiority, his demeanour is dignified and commanding; and
the appearance of the half-civilised Christian savage, who sways the
destinies of millions in the heart of heathen Africa, would proclaim his
high descent even in the courts of Europe.
Volume 3, Chapter V.