Coincident with the departure of the Earl of Balfour from England for Palestine, the President Arthur sailed from Manhattan for Háifa, the port of Jerusalem.
It was a historic occasion marked by the presence of 5,000 excited Jews, for the President Arthur was inaugurating a new steamship line and carrying the flag of Judea (six-pointed star of David) on the high seas for the first time in 2,000 years. Men and women wept from emotion and when they were not weeping they were singing Hatikvah, Zionist anthem, or The Star Spangled Banner.
Considerable difficulty was experienced in getting visitors off...
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