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The king ordered Quiroga to dislodge the intruders at Santa Elena

Source: Historical proof of the right of the Catholic King to the territory held to-day by the British King under the name of New Georgia #558

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In consequence of this [Cabrera’s report of 3/6/1687], by a decree issued at Madrid on the 14th of August, 1688, to Don Diego de Quiroga y Losada, successor to Don Juan Marques in the governship and captaincy-general of Florida and its provinces, his Majesty approved all that had been done up to that time, and charged and ordered him to proceed to totally dislodge the English and Yamazes settled in the aforesaid lands of his dominion, sending for this purpose one hundred men as reinforcements, arms, provisions, and munitions by the ship in charge of Captain Juan Ayala y Escobar. 52. [Bolton note: This is the cedula cited above (A. G. I., 87-1-1, Doc. No. 3): "I charge and order you to continue the operations begun by him until you succeed in dislodging the enemies, Scotch, English and Yamassees, who were settled on the said islands of Santa Elena and Santa Catharina and others near by to the north of those provinces, with the men of the presidio and the friendly Indians, which you think best."]

9. No one can fail to see that if the King of Spain had had a very well-founded right to the possession of Santa Elena, which, for the reasons stated in the preceding paragraphs, the Spaniards abandoned, his Majesty by virtue of their friendly relations, not only would not have approved of the expedition of Don Juan Marques, but he would have severely reprimanded and chastised him as a disturber of the peace and perfect harmony that existed between the two crowns.

10. Neither can anyone fail to see that it is not natural that the King of Spain, sovereign owner of so many and such vast regions and domains in the Western Indies, would wish to interrupt the peace in order to usurp and take by force so small a portion of the country as belonged to Santa Elena, especially as he had with so much liberality granted to England the possession and the right of sovereignty over as many lands as he conceded by the treaty of the year 1670.

11. It is also clear that if that territory had belonged to Great Britain, the governor of Carolina would have made his complaints in regard to the violence of the Spaniards, and the court of London would have sent dispatches to that of Spain. But since this was not done, the inference to be drawn from its silence is that it had nothing to complain of or to discuss concerning what had been done by the governor of Florida, or by the reiterated orders of the King of Spain for the dislodgement of the English. 53. [Bolton note: As a matter of fact, the Proprietors charged the Carolinians with the blame and exculpated Cabrera. Arredondo would have found comfort and support in what they said. See Introduction, pp. 43-i4.]

12. It would be remarkable if the King of Spain had granted to the English, as he did grant by Article 7 of the treaty of the year 1670, all the provinces and regions that Great Britain possessed at that time in the Western Indies, and then seventeen years later should desire to take away from him so small a part. It is clear, as has been demonstrated by specific facts, that in that same year 1670 the English possessed on the Continent of Florida only the territory from Cape Henry to South Carolina. 54. [Bolton note: That is, Charleston, which he interchanges with South Carolina.] This is proved by the fact that the Catholic King did not order his governors to recover these domains; for he directed his orders only to dislodge the English from Santa Elena, since his Majesty bore in mind that the English were legal owners from Carolina to 36° 30', by force of the treaty of 1670. From this it is clearly inferred that if the jurisdiction of Santa Elena had been included in the domains which his Majesty had ceded to the English, he would not have issued orders to dislodge them from it, since he did not order them ejected from the rest. And if Great Britain had been in possession of this territory at the time of the ratification of the treaty, it would have obtained the investiture of ownership in the same way that it obtained it for the other regions; and, consequently, the Catholic King would not have expressly approved the expedition of Don Juan Marques, directed against the English established at Santa Elena; nor would he have sent to his successor troops, arms, and munitions with which to proceed until he should entirely dislodge them from those places. This expedition was frustrated by a violent storm which fell upon the fleet in the neighborhood of the port of its destination and damaged the ships, compelling the abandonment of the undertaking for the time being. 55. [Bolton note: Arredondo refers here to the De Leon expedition of 1686. See Introduction, pp. 41-43.]