Halls, in his Life and Correspondence of Henry Salt, preserves a description of this powerful warlord, as "small in stature, and delicately formed, quick in his manner, with a shrewd expression, and considerable dignity in his deportment.
He then turned his attention to the coast, slowly but surely imposing his suzerainty over the Muslim authorities there until he finally could control and tax their trade inland; he used the revenues, to train, reform and re-equip his army and when the 19th century opened, Wolde Selassie was by far Abyssinia's leading figure and certainly the main champion of the Solomonic tradition.
[11] According to Paul Henze, Ras Wolde Selassie was the first ruler of this period to have close contact with Europeans, hosting three British diplomats, George Annesley, Viscount Valentia, his secretary Henry Salt, and Pearce.
Revealing himself a realist, and speaking, Salt says, with "great sincerity", he nevertheless expressed the fear that his country might not be able to supply any quantity of valuable commodities sufficient to recompense our merchants for engaging in so precarious a trade; more especially as the Abyssinians were not much acquainted with commercial transactions...Could any plan, however, be arranged for obviating these difficulties...he would most readily concur in carrying it into effect.
[14] At the effort of Ras Wolde Selassie, Ethiopia received its first Abuna, or titular religious leader, from Egypt since the death of Yosab in 1804: Qerellos III (1816–1828), who made his residence in Antalo.
The British diplomat Henry Salt described Wolde-Sillasie as "distinguished still more for his intrepidity and firmness than by the policy with which he has uniformly ruled the country under his command; having been successfully engaged in upwards of forty battles, and having evinced on these occasions even too great a disregard of his own personal safety in action.
"[15] Another British traveller, Mansfield Parkyns adds, “Wolde Selasie reigned for twenty-five years, and during this long period obtained and maintained for himself the character of a good and wise prince”.