Page:Dictionary of National Biography, Second Supplement, volume 3.djvu/649

 which he always took the deepest interest. In 'The Victory of the Cross,' sermons preached in Hereford Cathedral in 1888, he defined his views on the doctrine of the Atonement.

On 21 May 1882 Westcott was elected fellow of King's College, Cambridge. The degree of D.C.L. was conferred on him at Oxford in 1881; and that of D.D. (honorary) at the Tercentenary of Edinburgh University in 1884. He was made hon. D.D. of Dublin in 1888. Three months after the death of his friend Lightfoot the bishopric of Durham was offered to Westcott, on 6 March 1890. He was in his sixty-sixth year; he was wanting in some of the practical qualities that were conspicuous in Lightfoot; but it was certain that he would form a great conception of what he ought to attempt to do, and would strive to fulfil it with an enthusiasm which age had not abated. For himself, when his duty to accept the post became clear, he saw an unique opportunity for labouring, 'at the end of life,' more effectively than before for objects about which he had always felt deep concern, especially the fulfilment by the Church of her mission in relation to human society. He was consecrated in Westminster Abbey on 1 May 1890. On leaving Cambridge he was elected honorary fellow of both King's and Trinity Colleges, and the University of Durham made him hon. D.D. on settling in his diocese. In a first letter to his clergy of the diocese, which he addressed to them as soon as he had been duly elected, he undertook 'to face in the fight of the Christian faith some of the gravest problems of social and national life.' Very soon, with a view to furthering the solution of difficult social and economic problems and the removal of class-prejudices, he brought together for conferences at Auckland Castle employers of labour, secretaries of trade-unions, leading co-operators, men who had taken a prominent part in the administration of the poor laws or in municipal life. In the choice of the representatives Westcott found in Canon W. M. Ede, rector of Gateshead (now dean of Worcester), a valuable adviser. The men met at dinner in the evening for friendly intercourse, and after spending the night under the Bishop's roof, engaged the next morning in a formal discussion of some appointed question, when the bishop presided and opened the proceedings with a short and pertinent address. These conferences prepared the way for the part which the bishop was able to play in the settlement of the great strike which took place in the Durham coal trade and lasted from 9 March to 1 June 1892. For many weeks Westcott watched anxiously for a moment at which he could prudently intervene. Then he addressed an invitation to the representatives of the miners and of the owners to meet at Auckland Castle, which was accepted by both sides. The owners finally consented to reopen the pits without insisting on the full reduction that they had declared to be necessary, stating that they did so in consequence of the appeal which the Bishop had made to them 'not on the ground of any judgment on his part of the reasonableness or otherwise of their claim, but solely on the ground of consideration and of the impoverished condition of the men and of the generally prevailing distress.' The bishop also assisted in procuring the establishment of boards of conciliation in the county for dealing with industrial differences. At the same time he warmly supported movements for providing homes for aged miners, and better dwellings for the miners. He frequently addressed large bodies of workpeople, not merely at services specially arranged for them, such as an annual miners' service in Durham Cathedral, but at their own meetings. At various times he spoke to the members of co-operative societies, and in 1894 he addressed the great concourse at the Northumberland Miners' Gala. In many previous years this gathering had been addressed by eminent politicians, as well as by labour-leaders, but the invitation to a church dignitary was something new, and was a remarkable proof of the place that Westcott had won in the esteem of the pitmen. Before such audiences he held up high ideals of duty and human brotherhood; though he never condescended to partisan advocacy of their cause, they felt his enthusiasm and his strong sympathy. He used on these occasions few notes, and spoke with a greater eloquence and effect than in delivering sermons and addresses which were carefully written but were sometimes difficult to follow. The bishop's influence in labour matters is in some respects unique in the history of the English episcopate. (For Westcott's treatment of labour problems and for the impression which he made upon the miners, see especially the very interesting appreciation by Mr., M.P., in the Life, ii. 733 seq.)

In his more normal episcopal work his el ations with his younger clergy were