In 1868, Charles Netter visited the Holy Land for the first time. He was sent as a representative of the AIU (Alliance Israélite Universelle, Kol Israel Haverim), to examine the needs of the Jewish community in Eretz Israel. Upon his return he recommended that an agricultural settlement be founded, and be used as an agricultural school for Jewish youth. Netter obtained an audience with the Ottoman Emperor in Constantinople, and was rewarded with a piece of land near Jaffa. The required funds were acquired from the AIU, and Mikveh Israel was founded in 1870. During the first years Charles Netter, as the first director of the school, struggled with the objections of the Jewish Old Yishuv leaders, who concentrated on religious studies and relied on donations from Jews in the Diaspora. The Old Yishuv opposition to Jewish manual labor in the Holy Land, and clashes with the Arab inhabitants of nearby Yazur disrupted development and recruitment of students. Netter was the school's managing director until 1873. He overcame the difficulties of establishing and maintaining the settlement. Following his doctor's advice, he returned to Europe, but went on raising funds and supporting the school, and continued his activities for the AIU. Netter died in Jaffa on October 2, 1882, during a visit to Mikveh Israel. Samuel Hirsch was appointed as the director of Mikveh Israel in 1878, having been in charge of Jewish Education in North Africa on behalf of the AIU. Between 1873 and 1878, Isahk Shamsh and Zev Hertzberg were the directors of the school for short periods, but without any special influence on the school. In 1886, Josef Niego came to the Holy Land as the first Jewish agronomist in Palestine and joined "Mikveh Israel" as deputy of the director, Mr. Samuel Hirsch. In 1891, he was appointed director and served the establishment for 18 years, until 1902. Josef Niego hosted the German Kaiser Wilhelm II during his visit to Palestine in 1898, and provided Theodore Herzl with the occasion to shake his hand. On 1902, following the loss of his daughter and the precarious health of his wife Lea, Josef Niego and his family were compelled to quit Palestine and settle in Constantinople. Josef Loupo was appointed as the director of Mikveh Israel in 1902, after Josef Niego. During his days in Mikveh Israel the number of students decreased, and the reputation of the institution deteriorated; most of the young students preferred the "Herzliya Gymnasium". Josef Loupo was replaced by Eliahu Krauze in 1914. As a natural outcome of the French connections of Mikveh Israel and its directors, most of the mail went through the French Post office in the Holy Land, and as such, special relations were established between the French Post Master in Jaffa and the management of Mikveh Israel. In The Alexander Collection, a few documents give us a new perspective on the exact form these relations took. In a sense, these documents show us that the Director of Mikveh Israel operated as a Postal Agent and as a collecting office for the French Post, on the road between Jaffa and Jerusalem. He would buy stamps at a discount (a method known from the Turkish and Russian Posts) and sell stamps and stationery to the students, and the mail coach from Jaffa stopped in Mikveh Israel on its way to and from Jerusalem to exchange boxes. However, Mikveh Israel did not have a cachet of its own.