San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1889-04-17
Wonderful Power in the Gaze of Richie
lieu and Emperor Nicholas.


Two men possessed eyes whose cold glance
seemed to read the scheme of any opponent
from their inception to their completion, and
whose recollection haunted those on whom
they had been turned for years afterward-
as in each case contemporary witnesses have
left on record-even when no result of any
injurious character followed One of these
was Richelieu Probably no man ever ruled
a kingdom more despotically yet, on the
whole more successfully when surrounded
from first to last by multitude of enemies
perennially increasing, yet in every case
foiied by the minister's giant intellect. Yet
very much of this success,was due to the idea
that Richeleu knew far more than he act
ually did Of the cOnspiracies Of his foes, and
that, therefore, it was useless to plot against
him beyond a certain point.
Certain it is that when he entered the coun-
Gil room and gazed with full, cold, fixed
glance on the most astute plOtter who was
there for examination, the most hardened and
ingenious conspiratOr, for whom the torture
chamber had no terriers, covered under the
silent scrutiny, and ultimately poured fopth
full confession under the idea that a, great
part, if not all, was already known-and did
so simply under the mesmeric power Of those
much feared eyes OF the cardinal
To have been under the hostile gaze, no
word or sign added, of Richelieu was, to Sc
cure a memory which for years after gave
the poSS4SSOr of il, however changed the scene
and circumstances might be, thrill of most
unpleasant personal fear. And a very analo-
gous case within the memories Of our own
time can be adduced. 1t is that of a man
who certainly as far as personal advantages
went, was every inch king. With Herculean
frame and inherited beauty of manly fea
lures, he had that dignity which, as was
noticed by another royal hand, seemed to
spring from the sense of unlimited power,
which the same observer mentions as par
ticularly characteristic of the large, full eyes
1t is of those eyes that we have more to add.
Not only did they imply along experience
of unlimited sovereignty, but they spoke in
tones of terror to all those on whom they
were bent in anger. For those who were
intimate with the ways of the Russian court
have unanimously recorded how much of in
iaence in the shape of absolute fear there
was in the eyes of the Emperor Nicholas. He
looked at cHlprits or suspected culprits with
his slow stare of anger and the unhappy
wretches felt in a very different sense from
that in which the phrase was or: sinally used,
under the wand of the enchanter." But,
large as were the cars eyes-the RomanoR
inheritance from their beautiful, statuesque
German ancestress-there was no brilliant
or sparkling glance of ire when they were
directed toward an offender.
On the contrary, those who have had most
experience of them describe them as being
dull, cold, almost fish like in aspect Stolid
as thes gaze was, none recorded in history
ever produced more terrorizing effects on its
objects. In many cases where there was any
real ground of offense the person at whom
the car in his accustomed silent fashion was
looking frequently, did not wait to be inter
rogated, sometimes was hardly suspected, but,
like the victim of Rfchelieu, as just men
toned, poured forth a full, confession under
the gaze of the phlegmatic sovereign. Thus,
in both the case of Richelieu and Nicholas,
the influence of fear in their eyes was more
subjective than objective, and operated by
the potency Of strong minds over weak ones
not SO much from any active aspect of an
ger at that particular time.-The Gentle
mans Magazine