July 9, 1900 (Monday)
- In China, the Taiyuan Massacre took place as Governor Yu-Hsien of the Shanxi Province ordered captive foreign missionaries and their families to be executed. After being promised an escort to safety, the prisoners were brought before the Governor, who ordered their beheading. Reverend George Farthing was the first to die, and after all the men had been executed, Farthing's wife and three young children were killed along with the remaining foreigners. Forty-six (34 Protestant and 12 Catholic) died in one day. – forty-six altogether.
- Queen Victoria signed the An Act to Constitute the Commonwealth of Australia (Stat. of Victoria, 63 & 64, Chap. 12), in duplicate, keeping one copy for the United Kingdom, and giving the other document to the representatives of the Australian colonies to take home with them—along with the table, the inkstand, and the pen that had been used for the signing. Under the Act, the Queen would proclaim that five of the six colonies (Victoria, South Australia, New South Wales, Tasmania and Queensland) and "if Her Majesty is satisfied that the people of Western Australia have agreed thereto", a sixth, would "unite in one indissoluble Federal Commonwealth under the Crown of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland." The proclamation was made on September 17, 1900, and the Commonwealth came into being on January 1, 1901.
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Famous quotes containing the word july:
“Children are as destined biologically to break away as we are, emotionally, to hold on and protect. But thinking independently comes of acting independently. It begins with a two-year-old doggedly pulling on flannel pajamas during a July heat wave and with parents accepting that the impulse is a good one. When we let go of these small tasks without anger or sorrow but with pleasure and pride we give each act of independence our blessing.”
—Cathy Rindner Tempelsman (20th century)