Thus far the government of the Indies, as the New World began to be called, had been administered solely by the admiral, according to agreement, with Fonseca as superintendent in Spain. None but they were permitted to freight or despatch any vessel to the New World. Columbus was authorized to appoint two subordinate officers subject to royal sanction; and yet the sovereigns took offense when he named Bartolomé adelantado, which office was not that of lieutenant-governor, as many writers aver, but nearer that of territorial governor, with political as well as military powers, usually appointed by and subject only to the king. Assuming a certain degree of state, the admiral appeared at Isabela richly dressed, with ten _escuderos de á pié_, or squires of foot, and twenty _familiares_, composing his civil and military family. He had been directed before leaving Spain to appoint in each of the several settlements or colonies which should be planted an _alcalde_, or justice, exercising the combined duties of mayor and judge, with jurisdiction in civil and criminal cases, appeal being to the admiral; also an _alguacil mayor_, or high sheriff; and, if necessary, an _ayuntamiento_, or town council. All edicts, orders, and commissions must be issued in the name of the sovereigns, countersigned by the notary, with the royal seal affixed. The admiral had been further directed to build a warehouse where the royal stores should be kept, and all traffic should be subject to his direction. When he sailed upon his Cuban expedition he left for the direction of the colony a junta, of which his brother Diego was president, and Alonso Sanchez Carvajal, Juan de Luxan, Pedro Fernandez Coronel, and Father Buil, councillors. Diego Colon was a well-meaning man, gentle and discreet, approaching in visage and dress nearer the priest than the cavalier; he was neither shrewd nor energetic. Bartolomé was quite the opposite, and in many respects was the ablest of the brothers. Powerful in mind and body, authoritative and determinate in demeanor, generous in disposition, fearless in spirit, a thorough seaman, a man of no narrow worldly experience, fairly educated, and talented with the pen, he was neither the amiable, inefficient Diego, nor the dreamy, enthusiastic admiral.