Thandwe Maung - Irish Martyr

On November 15, 1884, a meeting of representatives of the major European powers was held in Berlin, Germany. At the meeting, they discussed the Congo River in Africa, which had been discovered by an Englishman named Stanley. Merchants from various countries also tried to open various businesses in the said Congo. The original intention of this meeting was to explore and exploit the rich resources of the Congo region in Africa, and the German prince Bismarck, who was the chairman of the meeting, stated that this meeting was a meeting with the original intention of exploring and exploiting the rich resources of the Congo region in Africa.

As mentioned, while various countries were trying to find and exploit resources in the Congo region of Africa, a tall, dark-haired, and about 21-year-old boy named Roger Keith Smith from Ulster, Ireland, went to West Africa as a steward on a large cargo ship owned by the Alderman Star Company. After this trip, when he returned to Ireland, the boy was nostalgic for the forests and mountains he had seen in West Africa and had a desire to return to that continent. At that time, an American captain named General San Poe was recruiting people to further explore the Congo River in the Congo region of Africa, and Roger Keith Smith also went with him.

While various countries were trying to find wealth in the aforementioned Congo region of Africa, a second King Leopold of Belgium emerged. This king was the son of the King of Belgium, the uncle of Queen Victoria of England, and was also very rich in sugarcane.

Because he was a good king, he was entrusted by the countries to be the guardian of the Congo. As he was entrusted with the responsibility of managing the Congo, King Leopold II of Belgium encouraged the countries to trade along the Congo River and to explore and exploit the various products of the country. In addition, Stanley, an Englishman who had originally discovered the Congo River, was appointed as an agent to manage the Congo. Shortly thereafter, in 1884, the governments of England and Portugal concluded a bilateral agreement on the collection of only appropriate tariffs on goods in the Congo Delta, which was under the Portuguese government.

When the American General, General San Poe, conducted further explorations of the Congo River in Africa, he reported to the American government what he found, which in turn interested the American government and took action. General San Poe's intention was to show that the United States was not behind other countries in the exploration of the Congo River.

Now, the Congo region in Africa has become an independent country, and a law governing the Congo has been enacted by a meeting of representatives of the major powers. According to this law, King Leopold II of Belgium has become the supreme authority and has the right to govern the Congo, which has an area of ​​over one million square miles and a population of about twenty million.

While King Leopold II of Belgium was ruling the Congo in Africa, Roger Smith, accompanied by a group of men led by General San Poe, an American general, arrived in the Congo and found that the people of the Congo were still suffering as before. However, the white people who came to the Congo for business were making a living. Some white people brought textiles from European factories, glass beads, glass bracelets, etc. to the Congo, and exchanged these cheap and inferior goods for the valuable ivory and tusks of the Congolese people.

Some of these greedy white people died of malaria and wild animal bites while searching for the riches of the Congo. Roger Smith returned to England from the Congo in Africa and then returned to the United States. When he arrived in the United States, he traveled with General San Poe, an American captain, to preach about his further explorations of the Congo River in Africa, which inspired thousands of Americans.

Roger Smith preached that the current administration of the Congo in Africa was not only for the benefit of the white race but also for the welfare of the many ethnic groups in the Congo. After touring the United States, Roger Smith returned to the Congo in 1891. After the Congo had been administered for about five years by King Leopold II of Belgium, the country and the ethnic groups had undergone many changes, and even the ethnic groups in the inner regions were affected by the change in administration.

The slave trade, which had been practiced in the Congo since ancient times, was also suppressed by various laws, and it almost disappeared. In addition, the Belgian King Leopold II established an army in the Congo, which

The army numbered about ten thousand soldiers. The formation of such armies also cost a lot of money, and it became necessary to impose heavy taxes on the ethnic groups of the Congo.

Roger Keith Smith, who had become one of the most knowledgeable white men on the Congo region, was appointed by the British Colonial Office as a visiting officer to Nigeria. Nigeria was a colony of the British government in Africa, and he had not yet experienced the benefits of it.

Roger Smith, who was then twenty-eight years old, and a specialist in the conditions of Africa and the nature of its people, had already been a good servant within three years, and had been commended by the Viceroy of Nigeria, Sir James MacDonald. In 1895, Roger Smith, at the age of thirty-two, was promoted to the position of British Consul in the Portuguese East African port city of Lorraine.

Roger Smith was then transferred to the Portuguese West Africa in 1898 as a British consul. Shortly after this transfer, the British government was at war with the Boers in the Transvaal, South Africa. Roger Smith, who had extensive knowledge of the African region, became very useful to the British government. As a useful person, Roger Smith was further appointed to special duties during the war and was awarded the South African Order of Queen Victoria.

As mentioned, Roger Keith Smith, after having served the British government during the war in the Transvaal, South Africa, was appointed Consul General of the British Government to the Congo after the war. Then, in August 1901, Roger Keith Smith was again appointed Consul General of the British Government to the Congo Colony, which was on the other side of the Congo River, which was under French rule.

Roger Keith Smith was now considered one of the most knowledgeable people in the central African states. In addition, under the rule of King Leopold II of Belgium, the Congo people were not only uncivilized but also suffered greatly from the heavy taxes and hardships they faced. Then Roger Keith Smith, as was his duty, submitted a report to the British Foreign Office on the state of affairs in the Congo, which prompted the British government to take action. The British Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Lord Lowington, spoke to the governments of other major powers about the state of affairs in the Congo, and also asked King Leopold II of Belgium to give him a true or false answer. When the British Foreign Office received this request, King Leopold II of Belgium was dissatisfied and denied the allegations about his government's administration in the African Congo, saying they were baseless.

Then, the British Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Loughlin Stone, instructed Roger Keith Smith to conduct a thorough investigation and report on the Congo with evidence. When Roger Keith Smith received the order from the British Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, he personally toured the towns and villages of the Congo and questioned the natives in every place he visited. The natives also told us how the Belgian government had imposed heavy taxes on them, how the white merchants had tortured them in various ways, and how the soldiers had brutally shot them with guns, etc., which was very sad.

When the white-faced people first arrived in their state, the Congolese people welcomed them with joy, thinking of them as rain gods who would bring good fortune to their people. However, the white-faced people did not live up to their expectations and persecuted them until they could no longer bear it, but they did not escape their clutches.

Roger Smith recorded the pitiful stories of the ethnic people and met some American missionaries, who found their stories even more heartbreaking. After such an investigation, when Roger Smith returned to Stanley, he received a letter from the British Foreign Office requesting him to come to London with his investigation. Roger Smith sailed for London on the Mira in January 1904.