The New York Herald Newspaper, April 13, 1875, Page 3

MOHAMMEDANISM. a R. Bosworth Smith’s Book Upon Islam. A SKETCH OF THE PROPHET. How His Religion Arose and Spread in the Orient. AN ACTIVE PROPAGANDA TO-DAY. The Moslem Faith Reclaiming the Negro. CHRISTIANITY’S RIVAL IN AFRICA, ‘The Harpers have just published a remarkable | And very interesting volume eottied “Mopammed and Mohammedanism,” which, both irom a re- ligious and a literary point of view, cannot fall to attract general attention, It consists of three Jectures, delivered at the Royal Institution of Great Britain by R, Bosworth Smith, Assistant Master in Harrow School and late Fellow of Trinity College, Oxford, with an appendix con- vaming Emanuel Deatseh’s article on ‘slam,’ Although Mohammedanism, or Isiam, numbers at | this day probably 150,000,000 of sincere and devout elievers, and has its grip on three continents— exteuding {rom Moroceo to the Malay peninsuta, from Zanzibar to the Kirghis horde—there is among Curistian nations an astonishing amount of ignorance respecting its founder, its doctrines, anda the character of its influence upon the peoples who have been brought under its sway. A distinguished German writer declares that although Islam has been descriveu in many books, yet educated peo- ple have not got much turtnerin the knowledge of it than that the Turks are Mohammedans and allow polygamy. In a general sort of way Mo- hammed is classed ag au impostor, Wuo taught a false religion, a spurious kind of Christianity, no worse, perhaps, but certainly o0 better, thaa any of the heathen systems which Clristianity is destined to root out and destroy, It is the purpose of this work to enlighten popu- lar opinion in regard to Jslam and its greay founder, and to show what ciaims it has fpon the attention of the Christian world, Unlike the heathen systems of India and other Eastera lands, Jt possesses a progressive vitality, and pushes for- Ward its peaceiul conquests, no longer sword in hand, with a zeal and success rivalled only by the Wissionary enterprises of the Church o1 Rome. What it grasps ic holds fast. It still holds the cradles of the Jewish and of the Cbristian faith, and the spots moat dear to both—Mount Sinal and the Cave of Mac peiad, the Church of the Nativity and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. Africa, which had yielded so early to Coristianity, yielded still more readtiy to Monammed; and from the Strait of Gibraltar to the Isthmus of Suez may still be heard the ery, “God is great; there is no god out God, and Mo- bawmed is His prophet,” Nor 1s the frequent as- aeruon trae that Islam has gained nothing since the dying out of the early fame of religious enthu- siagm, Janned as it often was by the lust of con- quest. In the extreme East Islam bas since then on and muintained for centuries @ moral supre- macy ia the important Chinese province of Yun- Nao, and has thus actually succeeded in tyrusting | @ wedge between the two great Buddhist empires of Burmah and of Uhina, Withia our own mem- ory, alter a filteen years’ war, under the leader, hip of Ta-Weu-Sin—one of those half miiitary, half religious genimses whieb Isiam seems always capable of producing—tt wrested from the Ceies- tal Empire a territorial supremacy in the western balf of this province. About thr years ago an embasey of intelligent, tolerant, and progressive Mussulmans from Yun-Nan ap- peared in England, ana endeavored to interest the people of that couutry in the wellare of the province. Unfortunately, the interests of Englisn trade were not sufficiently bound up with the ex- istence of the “Panthays,”’ as they are called; and «nce trade, a8 Proiessor Smitn remarks, is “whe only gospel which most Englishmgn care now to preach,” ihe embassy was obliged to retrace its steps without any prospect of moral or other sap- port, Meanwhile the Mussuimans hat been over- powered by Jearlal odds, their capital had fallen, and men, women and children, to the number of nome thirty thousand, had beeu massacred by the Victors, But though the Mohammedan temporal sovereignty in the province of Yun-Nan was thus destroyed, Mohammedanism itself nas not been extinguished in the Celestial Empire. Within the last eight years, says Prosessor Smith, “that vast tract of country called Western Chinese Tartary, or Kastern Turkestan, has thrown of the yoke of China, and bas added another to the lint of Mussulman kingdoms, Knotan and Yarkand and Kashgar are united ander the vigorons rule of the Atalik Gnazee, Yakoobd Beg. Whatever may be nia private character, the abolition oj th ave trade throughout nis dominions, his rigia adminis- tration of justice, his readiness to establish com- mercial relations with Inaia, and the respect hammedanism acquires at once a sense of the dignity of human nature not commonly found eveo among those who have been brought to accept Christianity.” The general moral elevation of a negro tribe that accepts Islam is as marked as it is rapid. The natives begin for the first time in their history fo dress, and tnat neatly, Squald Hlrn is repiaced by a scrupulous ciegniiness; hos- pitality becomes a religious duty; drunkenness, instead of the rule, becomes a comparitively rare exception. Though polygamy is aliowed by the Koran, it 18 not common in practice, and, beyoud the limits laid down by the Prophet, incontinence is rare; chastity is looked upon as one of the highest, and becomes, in fact, one of the com- moner virtues, Iv is idieness henceforward that degrades, and industry that elevates, instead of the reverse. A religious system which carries such beneficialinfluences tato lands cursed with brutish superstitions nas undoubtedly special claims upon the attention of the Christian world. Til toward the middle of the eighteetn century Mohammed was universally regarded by Chris- tlans as a rank tmpostor and @ false prophet. In the view of many Protestant Biblical commenta- tors he still divideg with the Pope the credit of being the subject of special prophecy in the pooks o! Daniel and the Revelation, He is Antichrist, the Man of Sin, the Little Horn, &c, Dante placed him in bis niuth circie, in the “Inferno,” among the sowers of religious discord ; Luther doubted whether he was not worse than the Pope; Meiancthon beileved him to be either Gog or Magog, and probably both, France and England may divide the credit of having been the first to take a different view of tne character of tne great Arabian, Gibbon, wko was not an Arabic scholar Dimsell, drew from Sale’s transiatton of the Koran, and irom the introductory discourse of that tranw- | lator the materials ror his splendid sketon of Mo- hammed, that masterpiece of philosophic blogra- phy. But most of the English-speaking public, who do not condemn the Arabian prophet unheard, have hitherto derived what favorable notions they may have of him from Carlyle’s magnificent essay on ‘The Hero as Propnet” and from Washington Irvng’s “Life of Mahomet,” ‘Yhe lectures of Mr. Bosworth Smith render, from acomprehensive and independent pornt of view, full justice to what was great in the prophets character and to what has been good in his influ- ence on the world, The author has made a calm and phiiosophical study of the history, the work and the cnaracter of Mohammed and of the religion ‘which ne founded. Many of the author’s concla- sions will be seriously questioned, especially where he expresses the beef that Islam will never give way to Ohristtanity in the East, and that the faith promulgated by Monammezd, if it can never be- come actually one with Christianity, may yet, by a process of mutual approximation and mutual un- derstanding, prove its best ally. Wo may surely | recognize the beneficial influences of Islam, and what was goodand great in the character of its founder, without going so far as this, On the other band, nothing could be more absurd than Sir William Muir’s theory of the ‘Satanic’? inspi- ration of the Koran in contrast with the Divine Inspiration of the Bible, ‘The religion taught by Mohamnied was, in ita essence, not original. The prophet aimself cailed itarevival of the old one, a return to the primi, | tive creed of Abraham; aud there is reason to belleve that both the great reiigions of the East- ern world existing In bis time—Sabmanism and Magianism—had been, in their origin at least, vaguely monotheistic, They had passed through the siages of spirituality, mrsunderstana- ing, decline, and, lastly, intentional cor- ruption, till the God whom Abraham, according to the well known Mussulman legend, had beea the first to worship, because, while he had made the stars and sun to rise and eet, he ver rose or set himsel(—had withdrawn behind them altogether; the beavenly bodies, trom being symbols, had become the thing symbolizea; tem- pies were erected in their honor and fdois filled the temples, As with Sabwanism, so with Maglan- ism. Ormuzd and Aliriman were no longer the principles brought into existence, or existing. by the permission of the one true God, who, as | Zoroaster had taught, would tolerate neither tem- | ples nor altars nor symbols, aud would be wor- shipped only on the hill topc with the eye of iaith, | quickened though it might be by the glory of the | rising or setting sun presented to the bodily eye. Fire had itself become the divinity, and what ofer- ing could be more acceptable to such a god than the human victim, overwhelmed by the mysterious flame, whose divine power he denied, Combined with these two religions was the grossest Fetichism, the worship of actual stocks and stones, or of the grim array of 860 \dols in toe Kaaba, among which the aerolite—once believed to have been of dazzling whitencss, but long since blackeued by the kisses of sinful meo—was the most ancient and the most sacred. Judaism | end Christianity were also known in Arabia, though neither of these religions ever struck deep root in the Arabian soll, Either they were not suited to the people or the people were not suited to them. ‘They lived on,” says Mr. Smith, ‘in eufferance only, Ull @ faith which to the Arabs suould be the more living one should sweep them j lly, shaking his sides and showing tis teeth, | Ifthe warmth of hi | ever lived, ; and in po sin, | then jormed ever broken. He wept like a child The social conditions ander which Mohammed | had to work were not less peculiar than the re- | Vgions, From time immemorial “Arabia haa been split up into @ vast number of ludependent tribes, | always at war with one another. The scanty sus- | tenance which an arid soll yielded they were fain to eke out by trading themseives, or sown for Christianity even by the Meccan pil- | giims among his subjects, are some indication of what Monammedanism may yet have in store tor it in Central Asia under the infinence of a master mind, and with the modifi ations that are possipie or pecessary to it. Throughout the Chinese Em- pire, at Karachar, for ins‘ance, there are scat- tered Mussu'man communities who have higher hop’s# than Buddnism or Coniucianism, and a purer morility than Taoism can supply. The Panthays themeelveg, it ts believed, still number a million | and 4 half; and the unity of God and the mission of Goa’s prophet are attested day by day by a con- tinaous line of worshippers from the Atlan to the Pacific Ocean. From the time it wae expelled from Western Europe, Isiam began extending its conquests to the cast of Asia, It established itself in the Malay Feninsula and Sumatra in the tourteenth and in pes in the fifteenth century. The for they anticipated by only a few years the advent of grasping Portuguese and ambitious Spaniards, Among races 80 low in the scale of humanity as are most of the Indian Islanders, Islam was not able to do what it did originally tor the Arabs or for the Turkish hordes; bateven for them it has dove something. some islands and a very corrupt Buddnism from owers, It was propagated by missionaries who eared very mach for the souls they could win and nothing for the plunder they could carry of. They conciliated the natives, learned their languages and intermarricd with them; and in tne Jarger islands their esnecess was rapid and almost complete. The Phtilippim nd Molnceas «did not become Mohammedan, Jor they bad to surrender at once their liberties Portugal. But here tne progress made by Chris- tianity has been slow and Insignificant by compar- ison with that of Islam. The religion known to the patives chiefly through the unbdiushing ri pacity of the Portuguese and the terribie craeities | Of the Dutch has not extended itself beyond the Foach o1 their swords. Here, as elsewhere in tne Fast, the most fatal hindrance to the spread of Coristianity has been the lives of Christians, Jn Arica, the scene of some of its earliest con- quests, Islam is spreading liself year by year with giant strides. In the vast tracts where a brutish Peatueniem still reigns, the Monammedan mis- sionsries meet with a marked suevess which 19 denied alike to Catholic and Protestant. We Jeatn Of wholo tribes Jaying asice their devil Worship, or timmemerial fetich, and spring- me a & bound from the very low- est to one of the highest forms of Teligious belie, “Ohrietian travellers,” says our author, “with every wish to toink otherwise, have remarked that the 10 Who accepia Mo- It expelled Bindootam from | by plundering others who conducted carayans along the sea coast of the Hedjaz to exchange the spices and precious stones of India or of Hacramaut or of Yemen with the manufactures of Bozra and Damascus, Their hand was against | every man and every man’s hand was against them; and a prophecy is hardly needed to ex- | plam the fact that an impenetrable country was | | never penetrated by foreign conquerors. Nor were | | they as uncivilized as has often been eupposed. | ‘They were as passionately fond of poetry as they were of war and piunder. What the Olympic | Games did for Greece in keeping up the nationa leeling, 23 distinct from trival independence, tn giving a brief cessation irom hostilities and acting | a8 a literary centre, the annual fairs at Okatz and — Mujanna were to Arabia, Here tribes made up their dissensions, exchanged prisoners of war, and, most Important of all, competed with one another in extempore poetic contests, Even in the ‘times of ignorance,’ each tribe produced its own poet-lavreate, and the most ready and the best saw nis poem transcribed jn letters of gold or suspended on the wall of the entrance of the | Kaaba, where it would be seen by every pilgrim who might visit the most sacied place in the coun- try.” There was awiid chivalry in the people, a con- tempt of danger and a sensibility of honor, which lend & charm to all we hear of their loves ana their wars, their greed and their hoep'tality, their rapine and their revenge, The Bedouin has been the same in these respect’ in all ages. “Be good enough to take of that garment of yours,” says the Bedouin roboer politely to his victim; “itis wanted by my wife.” El Mutanabi, a poet, prophet and warrior, three hundred years a\ter the Negira, was journeying wito his son through s country | infested by robbers, and proposed to seek a place of refuge for the Dight, “Art thon theo that Mutanabi,” exclaimed iis slave, “who wrote these | Ines» 1am known to the night and the wild and the steed, Fo the guest and the sword, to the paper and the reed. The poet warrior felt the stain ike a wound, and throwing himself down to sieep where he then ‘was met his death at the hands of the rovers, Passion for indiscriminate plunder nad, it is trae, before the time of Monamimed so far given way to the growing love of commerce that a kind of “Truce of God’ was tacitiy observed during four months of the year; butit is not unlikely that the forced abstention from plunder gave the zest of Novelty and a clear conscience to the disciples of freeboo:ery when tie jour months were over. Such was the condition of Arabia when Moham- med appeared upon the scene. His youth gave few signs that he was to bo the regenerator of nis people, He was a man of few words and he had few friends, Notable chiefly for his trathiulness and good faith, they called him “Al Amyn,” the Trusty. His tending ms ew ployer's fucks; bis Journeys to Syria; possibly his short-lived friend- | ship there with Sergius or Bahira, @ Nestorian | which was the best and oftea the only protection | monk; his (amous vow to succor the oppressed; his employment by Kadijah in a trade venture and his subseqaent happy marriage wite her are about the only notewortby external incideats in his early Ife, There is nothing to show that up tothe age of Jorty he felt any serious scruple as to the worsaip of idols. The sacred mouth of Ramadnan be ob- served with puuetilious devotion, and he would oiten retire to the caverns of Mount Hira for soli- tary meditation an’ prayer. He was meiancnolic in temperament and was also subject to epileptic fits, upon which Sprenger haw laid great stress and described most minutely, and which, whether under the name of the “sacred disease” among the Greeks, or “possession by the devil’? amoug the Jews, basin most ages and countries been looked upon as something specially mysterious or supernatural. Inoue of these fits or tranees he saw an angel in human ‘orm, but flooded wi'h celestial light, displaying astiver roll. “Read! said the angel. “I cannot read,” said Mohammed, The injunction and the answer were twice repeal “Read,” at last said the angel, “tn the name of the Lord; who created man out of a clot of blood; read, in the name of the Most Ilirh, who taught man the use of the pen, who sheds on his | soul the ray of knowledge and teaches bim what be.ore he knew oot.’? Upon this Mohammed felt the heavenly iuspiration and read the decrees of God, which he a‘terward promulgated im the Koran, ‘Then came the announcement, "0 Mo- nammed, Of a truth thowart the Prophet uf Goa , and | am his angel Gabriel.” ‘This was the crisis of Mohammed's life. It was his call to renouace idolatry and to take the office of Prophet. Overwhelmed by a sense of the great- ness of the mission he sought counsel of his good wife Kadijah, who cheered and encouraged bim, A long period of hesitation, doubt and prepara- tion followed. His teachings made slow pro- gress, Three years saw only fourteen proselytes attach themselves to bim. During the mext ten years his doctrine gained followers, but most of them had been | Obligea to take refuge in Abyssinia; Kadijau aud Abu Taleb, his uncle and protector, died, and at last Mohammed himseif was compelled to fly for his life with one companion, his early convert Abu Bakr. For three days he lay concealed in a cavern @ league from Mecca. The Koreisite pursuers scoured the country thirsting for his blood. approached the cavern. “We are only two,” said his trembling compauion. ‘There 18 a third,” said Monammed; ‘it is God him- self? The Koreishites reached the cave; a spider, we are told, had woven its web across the mouth, and @ pigeon was sitting on its nest in seemingly undisturbed repose. The Koreisbites retreated, for it was evident the solitude of the place was unviolated, and, by a sonnd iustinct one ofthe sublimest stories in. all history bas been made the era of Mohammedan chronology. it 1s unnecessary to follow the well known story Of the Prophet's subsequent career; but our Teaders will be interested in Mr, Smith’s striking portrait of the man who has stamped his impress so deeply on the Orlental world, aod in alew extracts which set forth the character of tue Koran. CHARACTERISTICS OF MOHAMMED, Mohammed was of middie hei@at and of a Atrong built irame; lis head was large, and across his ample forehead and above finely arching eye- brows ran a@ strongly marked vein, which, wien be was angry, would tura black and throb visibly. His eyes were coal black and piercing in their brightness; his hair curled slightly: and a long beard, whieh, Nike other Orientals, he would siroka when in deep thought, added tothe general im- pressivenes of his appearance, His step was quick and firm, ‘dike that of one descending a nil’? Between his shoulders was the famous mark, the sizo of a pigeon’s egg, which his disci- ples persisted in believing to be the sign of his prophetic office; while the light which kindled in his eye, like that which flashed from the precious stones in the breastplate of the High Priest, they called the light of prophecy, In bis Intercourse with others he would sit silent among bis companions fora long time together, bnt truly his silence was wore eloquent thun other men’s speech, for the moment speech was calied for it was forthcoming in the shape of some Weighty apothegm or proverb such as the Arabs love to hear, When he laughed he langhed heart- which “looked as if they were haiistones.” He ‘Was easy Of approach to all who wished to see him, even as “the river bank to him that draweth warer therefrom.” He was fond of animals, and they, as is often the case, were fondof him. He | se\dom passea @ group of children playing together without afew kind words to them; and he was never the first to withdraw his hand from the grasp of one who offered im bis. ttachment may be measured, as in fact it may, by the depth of his frieuds’ de- yotion to him, no troer friend than Monammed Around him, in quite early days, gathered what was best and nobestin Mecca; Instance, through all the vicis- situdes of his checkered Ife, was the frienasnip over the death of his faithful servant Zeid. Re visited his mother’s tomb some fifty years alter her death, and he wept there be- cause he believed that God had forbidden him to pray for ber, He was naturally shy and | retiring—‘‘as bashiul,” said Ayesha (bis favorite | wife), “as a veiled virgm.” He was kind and for- giving to all. “I served him fromthe time | waa eight years old,” said his servant Anas, “and he never scoldea me for anything, thongh I spoilea much.” The most noteworthy of his external characteristica was asweet gravity and a quiet dignity, which drew involuntary respect, and he enjoyed from tnsult, His ordinary dress was plain, even to coarse: Ness; yet he was fastidious in arranging it to tm best advantage. He was fone of abiutions and fonder still of perfumes; aud he prided himself on the neatuess of his balr and the peariy white- ness of bis tecth, His life was simple in all its details. He lived with his wives in a row of hum- | bie cottages, separated from one another by palm branches, cemented together with mud, He would kindle the fre, sweep the floor and milk the goats himself. Ayesha tells us that hesiept upon a Jeathern mat, and that he mended his clothes and even clouted his shoes with bis own band. For months together ayesba is aiso our authority for soying that he did not get a sufiictent meal. The little food that he had was always shared with those who dropped in to partake of it. Indeed, outside the Prophet’s house wasa bench or gallery, on which were always to be found a number of the poor wuo lived entirely on the Prophet’s generosity, and were hence called the “peopie of the bench.” His ordmary tood ‘was dates and water, or barley bread; milk and honey were luxuries of which he was ten which he rarely allowed himself, The iare desert seemed most congenial to him. even when he was sovereign of Arabia, One day some people | passed by him with @ basket of berries from one | of the desert shrubs. “ Pick me our,’ he said to his companion, “the biackest of those berries, for they are sweet—even such as I was wont to gather when! fed flocks of Mecca at Adgad.”’ THE KORAN. to what the Koran |s and Endless assertion what it is not, warnings drawo from previous | Arabian Nistory, especially the lost tribes of Ad and Thamud; Jewish or Arav legends ot the neroes of the Old Testament—stories told, and, it | must be added, orten spoiled tn the telling of them; jaws, ceremontal and moral, civil and somptuary; personal apologies; curses snowered upon Abu Lahab or the whole community of the Jews; all this alternates witn sub!. ne revelations of the attributes of the Godhead, barsts of ad- miration for Carist Himself, though not for the views neldof Him by His so-called tollowers; flights of poeiry, scathing rebukes of the nyp- ocrite, the angrateful, the anmeretftL ‘That the book as a whole ts a mediey, however it may be arranged, will seem only natural when we remember the way tn which it was composed, preserved, edited and stereotyped. Dicrated irom time to time by Mohammed to bis disciples, it was by them partly treasured im their memories, partiy written down on shoulder bones of mutton or on oyster shells, on bits Of Wood or tablets of stone, which, being thrown peil-mell into boxes and jumbled up together, like the loaves of the Cumman Sibyl alter a aust They | NEW YORK HERALD, TUESDAY, APRIL 13, 1875—QUADRUPLE SHEET. of wind, were not put into any shape | a@t alt fill after the Prophet’s death, by order of abu Bakr, The work of the editor conatsied simply 'n arranging the guras in the order of their Tespecuve letgths—the longest firat, the siorvest Jas; and, though the book once afterward passed Iprongh (he editor’s hands, this is substantially | the shape in which the Koran has come down to | Various readings, which would seem, how- ever, to have been of very slight importance, hav- ing crept into the aifferent copies, a revising com- mittee was appointed vy order of the Caliph Otn- | man, and an authorized edition having been thus | prepared “to prevent the texts differing, like those of the Jews and Christians,” ail previous | Copies were collected and buroead, * * * The very titles of tho earher suras, the Impre- | cations with which they abound, the imagery they employ, suggest the shepherd of the cesert, the despised visionary, the poet and the prophet. | “Phe Folding Up,” “The Cleaving-tn Sunder,” | "fhe Celestial Signs, ‘Yhe Unity,” “The Over- whelming,” “The Striking,” “The Inevitable,” | | “The Earthquake,” ‘Toe War Horses,’ tell their own story, There are passages in these, thouga it must be admitted they are rare, which may be compared in graadeur even with some of the sub- limest passages of Job, of David or of Isatan, Take, for instance, the viston of the last day Wich which the eigtty-frst sura, “ihe Folding | Up,? begins :— When the sun shal! be folded up, | And whom the stars sbail tall, And when the mountains shall be set in melion, | And when the she-camels with young shall ce neglected, Ang when the wild veasts shall be haddied togeiher, And when the sous sal boil, p And Wien souls sbali ve joined again to their bodies, ‘Aud when the female child that had been buried alive shail ask for what erime she was put to death, And when the leaves of the Book shall be unrolled, Aud whea the iicaveus shall be stripped away like a skin, And when Hell shatl be made to blaze, Aud woen Paradise shall be brought near— very soul shall Kuow what it has done. Allusions to the monotony of the desert; the gun In its rising brightness; the moon in its splen- | cor; are varied in the Koran by much more vivid mental visions of the Great Day when men shall be like moths scattered abroad, and the moun- | tains shall hecome like carded wool of various colors, driven by the wind. THE PROPURT'S TRANCES. | Strange and graphic accounts have been pre- | served to us by Ayesha of the physical phenomena | a@ttending the Prophet's fits of inspiration. He heard as it were the ringing of a bell; he jell down as one dead; he sobbed like a camel: he felt as thougu he were being rent in pieces, and | when he came to himself he felt as though words had been written on his heart, And when Abu Bakr, “he who would have sacrificed father and matuer for Mohammed,” burst into tears at the sight of the Prophet’s whitening hair, “Yes,” said Mohammed, “Had and its sisters, the terrific suras, have turved it white before its time.” As we liave said, this is in many respects a re- markable book. Whatever objections may be | made to certain of the author's views reapecting | | the retations of Isiam to Christianity, all who de- | sire to know the differences between the former asitis commonly painted and as tt ts will find | them set forth im these pages with admirable | clearness and impartiality, RACING PROSPECTS, | THE COMING SPRING MEBITING AT JZROME Panx—— | A GLANCE AT THE WITHERS AND BELMONT | STAKES, THE WESTCHESTER CUP AND JUVENILE | STAKES. The turf in the United States bas been so rapidly | advancing in popularity for the past ten years | that it has now reached an importance far greater | than at any former period of our bistory, and en- tirely beyond ail the anticipations of its most san- guine patrons, The year 1875 will eclipse all its predecessors in the number and importance of Taces as Well as in public favor. Tue whole coun- try, from Louisiana to New York, 18 ill of nigh- bred racers in tratuing, probably numbering more than twenty times a3 many as were trained ten yeurs ago. Ithas become fashtonable, ail over | | the country, for gentlemen of means to maintain | | racing éstabiishments, thus imitating, as in many other respects, our transatlantic cousins, The meeting at New Orleans, which has juat com- menced, may be considered the first important oue of the year, Nasivillé, Louisville, Lex- ingtoa, Baltumore and others, will follow io the movement jor the grand concentration of ali the flyers at tne Jerome Park Spring meeting, to commence June 5, aud to continue on alternate days for two weeks—seven days of running—for larger amount of money than ever before given | by any racing club in thla country. It should be | remembered, too, to the credit o| taose in power, | that at Jerome Park and other important courses none of the entrance money is retained by the club, all being distributed as per programmes, to frst, second aud third horses, The busy book-makers are profiting by the in- creased interest Manifested by the multitade wao habitually attend and speculate upon racing, and numerous investments have already bees made upon prominent coming events, THE WITHERS STAKES, of $199 cach, half forfeit, with $1,000 added, for turee-year-olds, one mile, is first in order upon the betting bOoks for the spring meeting; and of the Mfty-eight entries some twenty odd have al- ready been backed for various sums. Aristides, at 4to1; Cheapside, at 5; King Bolt, at 6; the Re- lentless colt, at 6; Ascot, at 8; Rnadamanthus, at | 8; Sangara, at 9, and D’Artagnan, at 10 to 1 seem to be held in the bighest estimation; the odds agall others rauging from iz to % tol. The race is an exceedingly douvtin! one, however, as the number of starters will certainly be very large, and many of them are yet untried. Some of the finest colts in the country received only gentie preparation and scaooling in their vwo- year-old form, and have been reserved for the great stakes for three-year-olds, It must not bo supposed, therefore, that tue chances of success are confined to the colts which distioguissed tiem. selves last year, and upon which the outside pub- lic will invest most freely. Judicious turimen srequently reserve their best colts ior comparative maturity, rather than risk iajury to them by severe preparation and racing When oniy two years old, and with tne very iarge numeer of colts bow if training, the race for the Withers Stak whien 18 Oly One mule, may be regaried as yet almoat a lottery. TUR BELMONT STAKES, which is the great event of tne spring meeting—a sweepstakes of $100 each, bal forieit, with $1,400 ded, the distance being & mile and a valli, und | for waich there are fitty-two nominations, will ve @ more severe test of the merits of ihe three- year-olds, the bevting books indicating the yavorites as tiyaer Ail, 5 to 1; Chesapeake, 6 to 1; Aristides, 6 to 1;, Bayminster, Willie Burke, King Boll, St Martin and Sangara, each 8 to 1; Khadamanthus and Jo Cerns each | 10 to 1, &., Myder Ali first tavorite until @ lew days since, took his nigh position by tne | handsome manuer in which he Won the cnam- pan ond Stakes at Jerome Park last sall, bea ing james A., Fine Work ane six others three-quarters o: # ole, WIth @oparently @ good deal 19 hand, the ume being 1:20, Thoughtiel tarmen cannot see in this, however, any evidence of superiority to Chesapeake, winner of tue Afgust stare at | Long Brauch, one mile, beating Lizzie K., Sweet Lips, Anielia aud three others in 1:47}: the Wigner of the Kentucky Stakes, one mile, at Saratoga, on a heavy track, beating @ splendid | jot—Jamea A, Wile Borke, Rhadamantius, hiog Bolt and three otoers—ia L:4sdg. Ja this race Chesapeake #3 driven trom toe start to the fine | ish, and showed himseil to be @ very game colt. | We look Fd his record, theretore, a superior to | | that of r All, Aristides, his stabie cou- | pamon, Bi wellent record, and y dest of the two, he wona handicap for two-year-olds, one mile, Qt Saratoga, carryiug the top weight (90 !s.), anc deleaung Anieia, Hosbrook, Joe Cerns, Victorious and Bulister, in 1:40'%. For @ purse of $000, ior two year olds, atJerome Park, five furiongs, he deieated Fine Work, #abylon and five otners, ia 1:04); and at Baitimore, he won the Ceutral Stakes, Oue mile, beating Joe Cerna, Anica and Holbrook, to Wwe eXtravrdioary thine of 1:44. In | these two, Mr. McGrath certainly oas a very good chance to win the Belmont, Willie Burke, King Bo.t and Others, were aiso successiul last year to some eXtent, aud mast Bot be counted out; while among ihe other nomtuations there are quite a number Of Magnificent colts, uniried, but ov: sulll- | cient promise to induce their admicers to put mon:y Upyn them, there will bea large fleld of starters, and the contest for tue Belmont must prove brubant, THE WESTCHESTER CUP, from its numerous eniries and the equalizin: penalties imposed Upon Winners, presents a broad field jor *peeulation, and so dovotfol does the result now seem that there is abondant reason to auticipate a large nuypber ol starters and a greater t ge at first 10 ta 1 now sto an each 10 by the odd4 agninst be i L | post | 83 1bs., being turd, and seven obners | questionavle. rr against Shylock, winner of tne cup inst year, the ve 6 to Lt; Saxon, 6 to L bf elgg 4s to wo 1 now 7 to 1; Cuipepp 2 to Baiiankeel (now old) starved eight tmes last yea and scored five victories, He won the Obickas: Kes lort uree-year-olds, al Mempuix, two miles, beating King Pynne «by Austratian) im 3:47, At Baltimore (Oct. 21), carrying 9 ibs, he won @ handicap stakes for ail ages, two and hall miles in 4:31, beating Shylock, 5 years, wita 111 ibs.; Bannerette, 3 years, 90 ibs.; Harr, years, 114 ths.; Kesolnte, 4 years, 100}08,; Kadi, 5 ears, 105 lps. ; and Madge, % years, 94 Jos, ‘Though allankeel Was [avored in the weights, his race Was still a good one, the time belug tie best at that distance, excepting Katie Pease’s time at Buffalo in September iast, At New Orleans, in December, he won @ race of for a purse, beating Bonaventure ond orhers—timey} 1: 1: 4514. Stakes lor three-year-vids, two miles, be: ing Colonel Nelligan in 42, Also @ race of a mile and three-quarters, for a purse, beating Carrie P, Falmouth and two otners—time 6:10. This is a very fair record, aud Bailankeel carries no penalties, lansee! did not meetihe best coles o! nis year, that his best race? wers made with light weights up. In the handicap above referred to (at Balti- more) Shylock gave him 2lvs., Buanerette gave him 3 198. and Mange gave him 7 lbs. Shylock, to carry @ penalty of 3 jbs., ranks second in tne bet- three Also, the Orieans ant | Ung, and many think he will again win the cup, but it 18 dificult to arrive at that concinsion. if | he could not last year beat Ballankeei two miles and a half, tne latter giving tim 2 ibs, we cannot see how le can wto the cup, (wo and # quarter mies, giving Ballankeel 31b3, down irom 16 to 7, to Lk He was a very good three-year-old until ti@ was overmarked ant thrown ont of traiming under grave suspicion that his timoers were shivered. He stood ,a great amount of hard service, however, having started nice time: the writer mistakes, not, winning but two races, He won an excellent race in July Jor the Monmouth Sequel sctukes for taree-year- olds, two miles, carrying 110 ibs.. and defeating on even terms Duolin, Vandalite and four otners in the fagt time of 3:374. At Saratoga, iu August, he won & parse Jor all ages, a mile and three. quarters, beating Dublin, Loudon ana the Ret Dick-Evta Ship)en filly in the best time on record jor that distauce—3:05%4; bul he carried only 83 ibs., while Dublin, the same aye, carried 96 ‘los, Coming out of this race apparently damaged he retired ior the season, He is now looking Well and is believed to be sound. Should he stand the grand ‘preparation and come to the all xight, he wil be close the winner, ize, @& slashing four-year-old daughter of Australian, is also sertously thought of From 10 to 1 the odds against her nave been cut down to 8 tol, and she guould be backed on | those terms. She was very useinl to Cvlovel McDantel last year, baving started for jourteen Taces, Of Which she won six. At Saratoga, August sbe won a free handicap, one mile, carrying 87 lbs, and beating the fauious Fadladeen, aged, With only 109 ios, up; Botany Bay, 3 years, with ot placed, me, 1464. Same place, Aagust 13, carrying 95 1bS., She Woo a purse lor three-year-olds, veat- | Ing Countess, 95 lbs, ; Grinstead, 100 1 and six others, one mile and an cighth, im L:5744. Same plice, August 21, she won a@ purse tor all ages, three-quarters of @ mile, beating Publi, Mianie Mac and four otuers, in the vest ime on record— 1:46%. The following day she won a purse, one notle and an eighth, bearing Carver and Corning, in 1:5744. Ab ‘Buffalo’ she won @ sweep: stakes ‘lor three-year-olds, carrying 107 Ibs. and beating Culpepper and ‘Vortex, wo Toules, in 3:38%4. Her jast — succe: was jor the Hunter Stakes, for fillies, at Jerome Park, in October, beating Bouaventure, Vandalite and Lava on even terms, each earrying 107 !os., one mile and three-quarters, in 0 for winning tuis race she carries taree pounds penalty in the Cup. She has pienty of speed, as her record above altesis: and I, as a three-year-old, 1a good com. pany, she could win raves of a mile and viree- quarters and two miles, with 107 los. up, she onght a8 a jour-year-ola to go two and a quarter only an additional pound. miles, Ww: celeated carrying 83 los, she ran second to Lizzie Lucas, 3314, a8 differently stated, either being goud enough, Again, for the Jerome Stakes, Jerome Park, sne ran a good secoud to Acrovat, beating Bannere!te, Aaron Pennington, brigand, The Moaxer aad Grinstead (colts Liv lbs, Mes 107 lbs.), two mules, in 3: And she ram second Lo Vandatite in tii the Dixie Stakes ut Baluumore, weights up, miles, lo 3:35.44, Leating tuirteen others, locluding | Batiankeel, brigaud aud oluer good ones. Her last race Was ‘he one above referred ta, of two dud a ball miles, at Baltimore, won by Ballanxcel, in Whici she gave bina 7 lbs., but was not piaced, ‘Those who believe she can stay the distance of two and a quarter miles ought not to hesitate to | Saxon, Winger o1 the Belmont Stakes | back ner. last year, carrying 110 ibs, & mile and a ball, in 3:0}s, and beating a splendid field, proved nim- welf a Buperior colt, tae feet Bingaman, with 3 lbs, less tuan ms weight for age,on the same day making the same distauce a seeond slower. Bat Winnlog tie Belmont tposes upou Saxon a pene aliy of 10 lva.—tov much to give a good tot. Van- Gaitte, the Winner of eleven races iast year (de- | feated also eleven times) 18 unquestionably equal to any oO: her years, having proved hersel! speedy, unfinchingly ga but she, also, to carry a penalty of 10 lus.—a heavy load jor her, ever shoud she be uniujured by her twenty odd races of last year, Wiich is Culpepper, Grinstead and otuers have algo been backed lor tue Cup, but must im- prove to be abie to Win. The Wiumer Of the Cup Will prove himsell trst class, THE JUVENILE STAKES = for two-year-olds, fur which tnere are thirty odd | nominations, is aiso upon the netting books, and 4s all are in the dark many of tue colis wil backed. AS nearly all 0: taem are fashionably Dred itis jolly to attempt to name the winner. To gentlemen who Wish to speculate On the event the pool money, place the numbers ia & hat, draw, and trust to luc THE JEROME PARK MEETING , cannot fatl to be uausually brilitant, and from the Interest inanifested at tf clavs and im sporting circies Immease gathermgs way be expected to Witneas the sport, The great popularity of the ciuo is also mdicased by the large and constantly increasing lst ol its Members, The most com- picte ana costly racing estaol.sameut in the coun- try, Preseuting to ita mem ers not oply great aliractions on racing occasions, but an agreeable resort throughout the year jor them-elves, their iriends, aud even unattended iamilies ot ladies | and children, it has a fast hold upon the good will | of the citizens of New York and will continue to pre@sper. THE NATIONAL + A NICE FIGHT AMONG THE PROFESSIOVALS—A COMBINATION FORMING AGAINST THE ATELET C8 OP PHILADELPHIA—-NAMES OF THE PRO- FESSIONAL PLAYERS. ‘The Projessional Association of Base Ball Piayers is ina bad way. Never since its organization has there been such dissension in its ranks. At the annual meeting beid in Philadelphia, March 1, the case of David Force came op betore the Judiciary Committee jor setilement, On the 2d of No- vember last this player signed a contract binaing himself to play with the Chicago Ciud for the sea- son Of 1875, GAME, witn them during the same season (i875). lu view of these facts the committee decided that he should PLAY WITH THE CHICAGO CLUB and that the contract with the Athietic Club was iilegal and therefore in no way binding. Alter the election of a new Convention, the President, at once appointed a new Judiciary Committee, designating three Philadelphia men as memvers, As the commitiee is composed of but five this action gave the Athletic Cla> @ clear majority. Without any annecessary delay the committee convened and reopened the Force case, just de- cided by their predecessors, and after a brief hearing declared that Force should play iu the Athletic Club and nowhere eise. Tow action bas occasioned all the troubie, Ciuns, other than those In Philadelphia, very nat- urally look with no inconaiderable degree of apprehension upon their chances of obtaining jus- tice at the bands of a Judiclary Committee that could be capable of doing what the present one has aiready done. The President, Mr. Charies Spering, is @ member of the Athletic Cub, also A SELP-CONSTITUTED MEMBER of the Judiciary Committee. Some ten days ago the following cara was sent by the Boston Ciub to the other projessional clube with @ request that tt be signed :— National Association clubs, all of whom are ational Association of Protease 1 Players, addres to you in your official iaxd through you to the profess! ollowing declaration, which Wi dd necessary in e transpired since the ad}. vention in Philadeiphia, Maret 1, 187 Fird—Betieving it to be an adsoluie necessity to the Progress and interest of our wational game and to our individ 38 ANG Prosperiy ad separate organ tions that there sould be a national code for eroment—a cod We declare it te be ovr xed purpose to sustain and Ui hold the constitution and. bylaws of the National Ae ciation. adoptea March 3, 1873, to higher law and todiscounionance and reb: every ati t Upon the partot aay c up clubs to violate, disregard or dety any ment contest than lor avy former cup. It seldum hap. ood, pave reason to thlok their chances O1 succe-s a he book makers have assigned vo Ballankee: | post of honor, laying Only 6 V0 1 ageinet him. while so many Aubscribers to such an event | the | | clubs and between clabs and their blaye al shoukl consist of intelligent and tir me mile heats, | But it must be observed that Bal- | Retorm 1s rising in | b: the betting, the odds against him having been cut | Sae was | © and able to curry weight; | be | tem is recommended—put up your | On the 5th day of December he signed | @ contract with the Athie!ic Club, agreeing to play | G to be strictly observed and reapected— Tecounize no other or ry Vv and clique of one of its arucies or sections; to this we piedge ourselves by this inswu- it. Second—We consider tt an absolute necessity that there should exist a tribanal to try and determine those dis. Piles and differences which uN, vuldably re between Fa} une, tae ted from different parts ot the country, so that they Li not VE EUbIeCL LO sectional. local OF Darusam m+ fluenes : mat their desisto: ont be final and submit | ted te and resveetedt by al the clubs. We believe tiis to have been the object of the Associa- tion In creaung the Judiciary Commiites, and we are determined Wo sustain Utat coimmittee, to ac ita decllons upon all cases whigh Dave and way - aiter coine vetore it, and to regaré any atterapt to evade Or defy those dceisions as fuettoas and revo! vy. _ Holding to the position set forth in the above deciara- tion, we view with surprise, regret snd ee the recent action. of the Athletic Club of Philadelpbis one of the oldest organizations in the country, an e chiet offleer Was, at our last Convention, chosen entby avery complimentary—ior it was unani- mous—vote, On the day followtng the adjournment of the Gonven- tion, the Athiete Club made an extraordinary attempt to avoid and reverse & decisl of a@ciary Com- mittee of 18i4—which had been adverse to them—b¥ bringing up the decidet matter before the new com- mitiee—a committee selected and appointed by their President (as the Association sremeent of whi com. tree he was himwel! a member, by his own appol t, ‘on which two other members were delegates adeiphia clubs! Following upon this the ‘lub adopted resolutions whose unconcealed wrade and ridicule the committee of they had the bad taste (tocall it by no worse name) to transmit to the representatives of all the over clubs. To crown all, the President of the National Associntion—who should have been, above all men, ti very lust lo assume @ partisan or sections tude in any dispute between a ation ciubs—ias allacked rom Athletic PLuTPose was to de: S74, and which ie Clyi) annoe but regard this conduct as ues a low to the interests of the association es: ag @ Very ddanverous precedent; and we. there- fore. express by this paper our unqualified disapproval of the eniive proceeding. In order (hat the danger may spread no further, and that our inte nd rights as members of the associa- tion may be respected aud preserved, we uuite in the following demand and insist that it be complied with: ~ A that the Jadieicry Comaitwe of 187 be and that this be done upou tne following z (A delegate trom one of the Western clubs has atread: been & member of the committee and resigned from its] ‘The three New Mnglaad clubs by (wo delegates. anne, {we New York clupe by Mr. Van Delft, of the danties, the three Philadelphia Clubs by Mr, Concannon, of the Phitudelph'as, Likis Will necessitate the withdrawl of Mr, pering and Mr ra. It is manifestly unfust that three Phila- delphiw inen should be upon the committee, and we will Not tolerate it, Wo demand that the Athletic Ctob shall retire from their defant position, and signity. thelr willingness to t the decisions’ ot (he Judiciary Comitice, and staining oar constitution ana by- Jaws promising them in thatevent our hearvost friew ship atid our Wost earnest Co-operation for their success and prosperity. Otherwise we consiler it to be our duty aud our right to regard them as malcontents, who are determined fo respoct no laws when it suail appear to be for thelr private interest to disobey them and we shail accord py ly reluse to arrange yumes with them for the season, of is WHAT WILL BE DONE. Itisnot yet known what effect this card will have upon Mr. Spering, nor ia it Known ag yet how many clubs will sign the documeat, The Mutual and Atlantic clubs have already refused to nave anything ro do with tue mater; but in all proba- buity & majority of the clubs in the association ‘will join the Bostonians, There can be no ques- Von in regard to the impropriety of Mr. Spering’s action; but it is very doubtful if he can be forced to recede irom the position he has tak If the Boston Club, for instance, refuse, as they threaten, to arrange any games with toe Athietics, the Atnletics will undouptedly win the championship, asthe Bostonians wili be compelled, under the rules, to forieit to the Philadelphians the ten games of their series. Iniact, any club reiusing to play the Athletics will forfeit tueir series. As it stands it’s a pretty fizht, and the Ataletics are evidently on top, allnough by no means in, the rigat. They hive more moaey than any other club io the country, aad therefore can prolong the fight with leas inconvenience than*can thei oppo- nentr, LOCAL MATTERS, The Mutual and Atiantic clubs are practising every day the weather permits, sad propos to be | in Up-top trim by the time the regular seasou’s play opens. Nearly all the members of the former nine nave been practising at hand vail during the | last two weeks. Hatfield wul not play ball reeu- | larly tois season, lus place having been filled by Gerhardt, late of the Baitimore Clu’ ‘rhs man wul play third base, @ position in wa he 18 con- sidered Very proiivient, and Holdsworth will again appear in the Mutuil ranks, playing tn rhe posi- | tion of short stop, Under this arrange t there 1s no reasom why THE NEW YORK CLUB should not mal quiie as good, If, indeed, not & betser 1 thaa last year, Tey are wil oxcel- lent batters and their Melding qualities are coo Well known to require any comment. they have at last determiued to discard the green stockings, and m futare whl appear in caocoiate colored hose, Yesterday they Went over to the Capttoiine Grounds and had a practice game with the Chel- seas, of Williamsburg, ‘ne Union Grounds, al- though looking muco better than could be ex- pected, considering the prolonged inclement weather, Will no6 be in condition for play before the first ot May. Mr. Cammeyer is hard at werk — up his seats and lences ana digging out his rains. May 4 the first game of the season will be piayed on these grounds, the contestants belag the Mu- tuals and Bostops. The Bostons go to Washi ton about the 22! of tue present mouth and take @ week's practice with the Washing.on Clap, and oa their way ome will stop and play the Mu- | tuais as above stated, On the 5th of May the Mucnals and Philadelphias wil bave @ trial of skill on tue Union deid, and the next aay the Atiantics will make ther debug in @ game will the Pmia- deipiias ob the Same grounds, May 7 vhe Mucuals goto Hartford and play the local club, and t proceed to Boston, Wnere they are booked to play the “Reds” on the 8th and l0:h, May Ih the Ataleties Will endeavor to demolish tie Atiantics on the Union Gronads, and the following day wili have a bout with the Mutaais, On the l4th the Atiactics and Phiiadeiph play another game, and (he nextday the Mutaals and Vniiadeiphias will edify the public, Botn these games are to be | contested on the Union Grounds, THE PROFESS(ONAL NINKS. Below wili ve found @ list of the players In each of the thirteen projessional clubs, 50 lar aS am- ATHLLE: ATLANTIC. nostox. | Clapp, ce. Kesster, c. White. c. | McBride, p. Re paliing, p. | Auson, 1st b. © ourke, Ist Be j Eisler, 2b. 2 cmrcaco. ORNTESNIAG. MARTPORD. | Hastings. o. Craver, o. Allison, ¢. | Zoutein, p. Bechtel, p. Bond. p. Baile Tat hy PUILADELP Hide Snyder. c Fisher, p. NEW MAVEN, Radclitte, c. Nichols, p. Start, tet b. tid, Ist b. Maious, Ist b. Nelson, 2d be Geer, ad b. Mevieary, 24 0 Holdsworth, s 8 Jackson, s. 8 Myerle, 3a b. abd. Ryan, bt. Fulmer, « f Tipper, oc. &. Me Mutiin, Lull, rt. Schaeffer, ¢. Aduy, r. KeoxoK. | Beward, e. rite, Mevall.'p. Bi Pe Golte Dillon, ist Deuimad, Ist b. Simmer | Mutball, 24 b. Battin, 21 b. 3. Miller, 2d | Mesoriey, 3b. Hang. ‘St b. Golasmiin, 2d b. | Retmon Pe: f A. Blong, |. f 7. Blong. c.f. Lorgan, t. & Prey Fhe Bancker, c. A. Ailicon, 1. f. Dirks, CL Holly, rf TAR AMATEURS. ‘The amatenrs are coming out strong and numer. Ons this season, perhaps more so than a6 any revious time tm ihe history of the national game, ey have had thetr rules publisned ia book torm, so that in Juture they will have sometning to guide them, both im their play and in their doalinas with each other. Taeir code of ruics is, im many ree pects, better than that adopted by the proies- sionaly, and in pringine then ont Messrs, Peo & Snyder—the publishers—have exiivited great teste and skill. With few exceptions the cifos tm this victoity will play their games at Prospect Park. Toe Atlingtons, however, a ndeavoring to optata permission from Mr, Cammeser to play on the Union Grounds, #8 they are 80 much easier oO! access than ts Prospect Para. Tue clud will present a strong playing (eam, and, no Gowot, wih close the season wita @ brilliaat ana well-earned record. fne Flyaways will be even stronge! here- tofore, baving stropgtnened their aime at wen iats, Pte Staten Island Clad will not, it isunderstood, make any special effort to get up a dig nme, bat will, nevertheless, be formidable enougi to hold their own against most of their local rivals, In Brooklyn the Nameless, the Concords, the Nassous, tue Uneiseas and the Reliance will be im the eld as ‘ne first two of these will jog along im theeven tenor of their way, conventing themselves with doing the best they can iu @ quiet manner. FORMOSA, A CHINESE MANDARIN AND SEVERAL HUNDRED SOLDIERS KILLED BY THE NATIVES. Smanxauat, Feb. 26, 1875. A press correspondent in Formosa, on the authenticity of whose information { can implicitly rely, sends word of the occurrence of a disastrous affray between natives of that isiand and Chinese soldiers, in which the latter sustained a very sertous loss. It seems taat a body of Chinese troops was attacked by a larze foree of these savages in netghdorhood of Hong Kong, @ small vitiage on coast, A snort discance to Lue mortk oO: Lang- 140u. upward of two handred Chinese Aimandarin and ap Goanees. ‘The exact cireumsiaaces under wieh the attack was made and the muvive for it are not knowa. ubticss measures will speedily be taken vy the nese tO avenge tue lose and reirieve the da esler i soldiers wére killed anda large number