[4] Through relations in business in London, he entered a counting-house there; became interested in the Church of England Young Men's Society, and took to studying foreign languages.
[4] Maclean worked hard; the population increased greatly with the growth of Winnipeg, and consisted in the country districts of very poor settlers.
Visiting England in order to raise money for a new bishopric, the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts granted a certain income, and on 3 May 1874 he was consecrated bishop of Saskatchewan.
His diocese consisted of 420,000 square miles of very poorly settled country, and no large subscriptions could be relied on from the inhabitants.
However, Maclean managed, by energetically calling attention in England and Canada to the needs of the district, to secure a permanent endowment for the see and for Emanuel College at Alberta, which under his care became a university.