`` you know , ambassador , i do n't care if i shall call myself first minister or governor or grand high master of kangaroos , in the least , '' macarthur had said to him , and repeated at nearly every opportunity , with small variations , wherever witnesses would listen to him , `` so long as it is understood we must be allowed to know our business better than anyone else , and let to settle it ourselves , instead of this sitting fire waiting eight months for word from westminster , or worse , having some navy officer with more will than mother-wit come blundering in to set us at logger-heads with our nearer neighbors , and they only looking for good trading partners , as we would anyhow care to be . ''