The new governor was a man of rare character and was endowed by the royal government with more power than any of his predecessors had enjoyed. He received a salary of eighteen thousand pesos annually. The task before him was one of reorganization and reconstruction. He was charged and expected to inaugurate a new era in the administration of the colony, to employ the most judicious means to prevent errors committed by his predecessors and to insure a prompt and efficient enforcement of the principles of colonial policy which the time demanded. He was also to repair all the fortifications and defenses of the island, rebuild whatever had been destroyed and add to them whatever was needed as rapidly as possible, so they would be proof against any possible coup-de-main on the part of any enemy. The reconstruction of the Morro and of the arsenal destroyed by the British, and the erection of the forts of Cabanas and Atares was entrusted to the able engineers D. Silvestro Abarca and D. Agostino Crame, who later drew the plan for that of Puerto Principe, intended to protect that place and prevent any landing by la Chorrera. The records of the period show that six million pesos were spent on those fortifications. New hospitals and other public buildings were also erected. The work was greatly facilitated by the number of negroes that had been added to the population since the British domination of the city. The great activity of the building trades stimulated the circulation of gold and gave a new impetus to all business life. That the antagonism between the Spanish and British was not confined to Havana, which had suffered British occupation, is proved by the influx of immigrants from Florida, when this province was ceded to England. Unwilling to live under British dominion, many French and Spanish families of that colony left their old homes for new ones in Cuba. A great number of them settled in Matanzas and its environs, on land which belonged to the famous Marquis Justiz de Santa Anna. The generosity of this man in gratuitously ceding that land endeared him to these immigrants. Their love for the place they came from induced them to give to the towns into which their settlements were formed, names that suggested the old home, as San Augustin de la Nueva Florida proves. As soon as the enemy had left, the residents of Havana who had retired to the interior of the island returned to the city and resumed their occupations. Bishop Morell, who had been exiled to Florida by the British, also returned. He brought with him the white-wax bee, which in time became a new source of wealth for the island.