The Lambeth Conference was formally opened at Westminster Abbey by the Archbishop of Canterbury, who was to preside over its sessions. There were present for the Conference one hundred and ninety-four bishops from all parts of the world. Forty-nine of these represented the Episcopal Church of the United States. The sessions of the Conference continued through July 31. Bishop Cheshire was a member of the committee on church unity, and, as far as his journal reveals, this was the only committee on which he served. Reporting upon the Lambeth Conference to his diocesan convention the following year, Bishop Cheshire said: "The first message which we bring home from the Lambeth Conference of 1897 is that God in His Providence is opening the world to us; and to prepare us for the work we are to do, He is drawing all parts of the world-possessing Anglo-Saxon race into a closer union of common interest and sympathies, and of mutual confidence." He declared that the American bishops, while receiving much benefit from the Conference, had also contributed constructively to its work. Shortly after the Conference closed, Bishop Cheshire visited the Archbishop of York for a few days. Upon leaving York he spent about a month traveling in England, Scotland, the Orkneys, and Ireland. In early September he left England for the Continent, where he visited in succession Antwerp, Brussels, and Cologne. Of his reactions to the cathedrals of these three cities, the Bishop observed that they "do not seem to me to be really so full of interest and beauty as even the inferior English cathedrals. They do not so abound with evidences and symbols of their connection with the life and history of the country and people, and so in spite of all their ornamentation they have a barren look."[37] The Bishop did some further sight-seeing in Germany, Switzerland, and France. While in Switzerland he saw the famous Lion of Lucerne, which he thought possessed "a dignity, nobleness, and beauty about it which exceeds anything of the kind I have ever seen before." Leaving from Southampton, he arrived in New York on September 24, feeling much refreshed and ready to return to the work of his Diocese. Two years after his visit to England Bishop Cheshire married Miss Elizabeth Lansdale Mitchell, of Beltsville, Maryland. She was the daughter of Rev. Walter A. Mitchell, an Episcopal clergyman. The marriage proved to be happy and successful in every way. Mrs. Cheshire was a splendid mother to the Bishop's children, and they all became devoted to her. When a friend heard that Bishop Cheshire was to be married, he remarked to the Bishop that with his large family he needed a wife. With his characteristic honesty the Bishop replied: "I don't need any such thing. My daughters take the best care of me and want me to have the best of everything. I don't need a wife; I am marrying again just because I want to."[38]