Unfortunately it was at this time King James asked his loyal servant to officiate on a committee that was being formed to try a group of men who refused to belong to the Church of England. Some were Catholics and some were Puritans. Now George Calvert's conscience and ethics came to the forefront. This was not a task he could take on under his changed religious circumstances. So he first spoke to his master, the king, and after publicly announced his conversion to Catholicism. He resigned his offices, including that of Secretary of State. This, despite the fact the king had offered to release him from taking the oath of supremacy so he might continue in the royal service. Trustworthy, capable gentlemen of Sir George Calvert's kind were difficult to find.
Still, James Stuart was an honorable man who valued the few real friendships he had. He knew that despite his Catholic faith George Calvert would always be loyal to him and his heirs. He might have sent his friend to the tower. Instead he created him a baron in the Irish peerage, with lands in County Longford. Then, because the new Lord Baltimore had always wanted to found a colony in the New World, the king gave him a huge land grant on the Avalon peninsula in Newfoundland.
Colonists were sent out, and Sir George later followed with his new wife and family only to discover that Newfoundland was not a particularly hospitable place in which to settle. The winters seemed to last from mid-October until well into the month of May. There was virtually no time for crops to grow and be harvested. The fishing was excellent, and would prove a profitable venture, however the French began to harass Avalon. Calvert wisely sent his family south to Virginia, and spent the winter in his colony. When the spring came he was relieved to find himself still alive. He sent the king a letter explaining the difficult situation, and departed to join his wife in Virginia. He had sadly realized that Avalon was not the colony he wanted to found.
Once reunited with his family in Jamestown he set about to find a more hospitable territory where he could make his dream of a colony where all religions were tolerated equally come true. While he was welcomed in Virginia by his friends, he was also viewed with suspicion by many who assumed his faith would make him loyaler to his co-religionists from Spain far to the south of Virginia, than to his own countrymen. Ignoring them as best he could, George Calvert did look south for land, but while the climate was pleasant enough, there was no suitable deep water anchorage for the English ships that would bring supplies and colonists from England. By now a letter from the king was awaiting him in Jamestown ordering him to return home to England.
Before he might receive this missive, however, Calvert looked to the north of Virginia, exploring the Chesapeake region. What he saw excited him greatly. There were great sheltered bays, and harbors with tides that ran no higher on an average day than two feet. The bays, one running into another, were fed by numerous rivers and streams, some of them navigable quite far inland. The waters abounded with fish, shellfish, ducks, and geese. In the great forests lining the Chesapeake were turkeys, deer, and rabbit. There were bushes of edible berries, and fruit trees. He recognized a great number of hardwood trees that would build houses and ships. George Calvert, Lord Baltimore, believed he had found his colony, and it was a paradise.
Returning to Jamestown he found the king's letter, and immediately returned home, leaving his second wife and children behind. His goal was to obtain a grant for the lands about the Chesapeake area, for this was the perfect place for his colony. In England James I was dead, but Charles I, his son, was equally fond of Lord Baltimore. He thought his father's old friend and faithful servant looked tired and worn, and attempted to turn his mind from the New World. But Charles I finally saw that George Calvert would not be dissuaded until he could found this colony of his which he had been talking about for years. As for religious toleration, the king was doubtful such a thing could be obtained, but let George Calvert try if he must.
Lord Baltimore was granted by royal decree the land: to the true meridian of the first fountaine of the River Pattowmeck. Created Lord Proprietary, his rights over this territory were virtually royal. He could make laws. Raise an army. Pardon criminals, confer land grants, and titles. And then King Charles gave his father's old friend an especial right not even granted to the Virginia colony. Lord Baltimore's colony was allowed to trade with any country it chose to trade with; and in return, the king would receive one fifth of any gold or silver discovered in the colony, and be paid annually a quitrent of two Indian arrows.
As the charter was being drawn up for the new colony the king gently suggested that, having no name yet, Lord Baltimore might like to name it after the queen. George Calvert agreed, a twinkle in his eyes. Terra Mariae was therefore entered into the Latin charter as the colony's name, but it was immediately called by its more familiar English appellation, Mary's Land.
Lady Baltimore and the children were sent for, but after a quiet voyage their vessel was wrecked off the coast of England with no survivors. Lord Baltimore was devastated. He had lost two wives, and several of the children. Exhausted, worn down by his many years of hard work, and saddened beyond all measure, George Calvert, Lord Baltimore, died suddenly on April fifteenth, 1632. Two months later the royal charter was issued to the second Lord Baltimore, Cecil Calvert, a handsome young man of twenty-seven.
At Glenkirk, James Leslie had learned all of this news-sent to him by his stepson Charles Frederick Stuart, the duke of Lundy- even as Kieran and Fortune prepared to go south to England. "I doubt ye'll be able to sail this year," he said, "but ye'll nae know that until ye speak wi Lord Baltimore. Ye'll go to Queen's Malvern first, and Charlie will know what ye're to do next. I dinna know these people, but since they're connected wi the court, Charlie will."
James Leslie and his wife had decided they would not be going south to England for their usual summer visit with their family. The duke felt he had been away from his lands a year, and would not travel again so soon. Jasmine was only just recovering from her childbirth of seven months ago. She did not want to take a bairn as young as Autumn on another journey. The trip home had been all she would dare with the precious infant upon whom she doted so greatly. Fortune and Kieran would go alone to England.
Now as the day for their departure came near the duchess of Glenkirk grew sad. When her second daughter had gone she would have no children left at home but Patrick Leslie, but he was sixteen, and while he loved his mother, and tolerated her concern, he considered himself a man. And her wee Autumn Rose, who was growing so quickly Jasmine could almost feel life speeding by her, and she was helpless to stop it.
Fortune sensed her mother's mood, and attempted to cheer her "She's only a baby, Mama. 'Twill be years before she leaves you. You can devote yourself to her as you never really could to the rest of us. I think Autumn is very fortunate to have you, Mama."
"Aye," her mother answered, brightening a bit. Fortune was very astute, but then she had always been the practical child. When she and her siblings were young I was at court, Jasmine thought. I did not have the time for them I shall have for this daughter. "I will miss you," the duchess of Glenkirk said softly.
"I will miss you, Mama," came the reply. "On one hand I am so excited to be going to the New World, but on the other I am a little afraid. It is such an adventure, and as you know I have never been one for adventure. I did not ever plan to have one. Yet here I am, setting off into the unknown with my darling Kieran. If only people would tolerate each other's religions, I should have never had to leave Ulster." She sighed deeply. "Do you think this Mary's Land will really be a place of toleration, Mama? What if it isn't? Where will we go then?"