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Chris Dotson
Practical
Cloud Security
A Guide for Secure Design and Deployment

Chris Dotson
Practical Cloud Security
A Guide for Secure Design and Deployment
Boston Farnham Sebastopol Tokyo
Beijing Boston Farnham Sebastopol Tokyo
Beijing

978-1-492-03751-4
[LSI]
Practical Cloud Security
by Chris Dotson
Copyright © 2019 Chris Dotson. All rights reserved.
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thereof complies with such licenses and/or rights.

Table of Contents
Preface. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ix
1. Principles and Concepts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Least Privilege 1
Defense in Depth 2
Threat Actors, Diagrams, and Trust Boundaries 2
Cloud Delivery Models 6
The Cloud Shared Responsibility Model 6
Risk Management 10
2. Data Asset Management and Protection. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Data Identification and Classification 13
Example Data Classification Levels 14
Relevant Industry or Regulatory Requirements 15
Data Asset Management in the Cloud 17
Tagging Cloud Resources 18
Protecting Data in the Cloud 19
Tokenization 19
Encryption 20
Summary 26
3. Cloud Asset Management and Protection. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
Differences from Traditional IT 29
Types of Cloud Assets 30
Compute Assets 31
Storage Assets 37
Network Assets 41
Asset Management Pipeline 42
iii

Procurement Leaks 43
Processing Leaks 44
Tooling Leaks 45
Findings Leaks 45
Tagging Cloud Assets 46
Summary 48
4. Identity and Access Management. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
Life Cycle for Identity and Access 52
Request 53
Approve 54
Create, Delete, Grant, or Revoke 54
Authentication 55
Cloud IAM Identities 55
Business-to-Consumer and Business-to-Employee 56
Multi-Factor Authentication 57
Passwords and API Keys 59
Shared IDs 61
Federated Identity 61
Single Sign-On 61
Instance Metadata and Identity Documents 63
Secrets Management 64
Authorization 68
Centralized Authorization 69
Roles 70
Revalidate 71
Putting It All Together in the Sample Application 72
Summary 75
5. Vulnerability Management. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
Vulnerable Areas 80
Data Access 80
Application 81
Middleware 82
Operating System 84
Network 84
Virtualized Infrastructure 85
Physical Infrastructure 85
Finding and Fixing Vulnerabilities 85
Network Vulnerability Scanners 87
iv | Table of Contents

Agentless Scanners and Configuration Management 88
Agent-Based Scanners and Configuration Management 89
Cloud Provider Security Management Tools 91
Container Scanners 91
Dynamic Application Scanners (DAST) 92
Static Application Scanners (SAST) 92
Software Composition Analysis Scanners (SCA) 93
Interactive Application Scanners (IAST) 93
Runtime Application Self-Protection Scanners (RASP) 93
Manual Code Reviews 94
Penetration Tests 94
User Reports 95
Example Tools for Vulnerability and Configuration Management 95
Risk Management Processes 98
Vulnerability Management Metrics 98
Tool Coverage 99
Mean Time to Remediate 99
Systems/Applications with Open Vulnerabilities 99
Percentage of False Positives 100
Percentage of False Negatives 100
Vulnerability Recurrence Rate 100
Change Management 101
Summary 106
6. Network Security. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
Concepts and Definitions 111
Whitelists and Blacklists 111
DMZs 112
Proxies 112
Software-Defined Networking 113
Network Features Virtualization 113
Overlay Networks and Encapsulation 113
Virtual Private Clouds 114
Network Address Translation 115
IPv6 116
Encryption in Motion 118
Firewalls and Network Segmentation 121
Allowing Administrative Access 126
Web Application Firewalls and RASP 130
Table of Contents | v

Anti-DDoS 132
Intrusion Detection and Prevention Systems 133
Egress Filtering 134
Data Loss Prevention 136
Summary 137
7. Detecting, Responding to, and Recovering from Security Incidents. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139
What to Watch 141
Privileged User Access 142
Logs from Defensive Tooling 144
Cloud Service Logs and Metrics 147
Operating System Logs and Metrics 148
Middleware Logs 148
Secrets Server 149
Your Application 149
How to Watch 149
Aggregation and Retention 150
Parsing Logs 151
Searching and Correlation 152
Alerting and Automated Response 152
Security Information and Event Managers 153
Threat Hunting 155
Preparing for an Incident 155
Team 156
Plans 157
Tools 159
Responding to an Incident 160
Cyber Kill Chains 161
The OODA Loop 162
Cloud Forensics 163
Blocking Unauthorized Access 164
Stopping Data Exfiltration and Command and Control 164
Recovery 164
Redeploying IT Systems 164
Notifications 165
Lessons Learned 165
Example Metrics 165
Example Tools for Detection, Response, and Recovery 166
Monitoring the Protective Systems 168
Monitoring the Application 169
vi | Table of Contents

Monitoring the Administrators 169
Understanding the Auditing Infrastructure 170
Summary 171
Index. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173
Table of Contents | vii

Practical Cloud Security A Guide for Secure Design and Deployment 1st Edition Chris Dotson

Preface
As the title states, this book is a practical guide to securing your cloud environments.
In almost all organizations, security has to fight for time and funding, and it often
takes a back seat to implementing features and functions. Focusing on the “best bang
for the buck,” security-wise, is important.
This book is intended to help you get the most important security controls for your
most important assets in place quickly and correctly, whether you’re a security profes‐
sional who is somewhat new to the cloud, or an architect or developer with security
responsibilities. From that solid base, you can continue to build and mature your
controls.
While many of the security controls and principles are similar in cloud and on-
premises environments, there are some important practical differences. For that rea‐
son, a few of the recommendations for practical cloud security may be surprising to
those with an on-premises security background. While there are certainly legitimate
differences of opinion among security professionals in almost any area of informa‐
tion security, the recommendations in this book stem from years of experience in
securing cloud environments, and they are informed by some of the latest develop‐
ments in cloud computing offerings.
The first few chapters deal with understanding your responsibilities in the cloud and
how they differ from in on-premises environments, as well as understanding what
assets you have, what the most likely threats are to those assets, and some protections
for them.
The next chapters of the book provide practical guidance, in priority order, of the
most important security controls that you should consider first:
• Identity and access management
• Vulnerability management
ix

• Network controls
The final chapter deals with how to detect when something’s wrong and deal with it.
It’s a good idea to read this chapter before something actually goes wrong!
Do you need to get any certifications or attestations for your environment, like PCI
certification or a SOC 2 report? If so, you’ll need to watch out for a few specific pit‐
falls, which will be noted. You’ll also need to make sure you’re aware of any applicable
regulations—for example, if you’re handling PHI (protected health information) in
the United States, or if you’re handling personal information for EU citizens, regard‐
less of where your application is hosted.
Conventions Used in This Book
The following typographical conventions are used in this book:
Italic
Indicates new terms, URLs, email addresses, filenames, and file extensions.
Constant width
Used for program listings, as well as within paragraphs to refer to program ele‐
ments such as variable or function names, databases, data types, environment
variables, statements, and keywords.
Constant width bold
Shows commands or other text that should be typed literally by the user.
Constant width italic
Shows text that should be replaced with user-supplied values or by values deter‐
mined by context.
This element signifies a tip or suggestion.
This element signifies a general note.
x | Preface

This element indicates a warning or caution.
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Preface | xi

Acknowledgments
This book would not have happened without the encouragement and support of my
wonderful wife, Tabitha Dotson, who told me that I couldn’t pass up this opportunity
and juggled schedules and obligations for over a year to make it happen. I’d also like
to thank my children, Samantha (for her extensive knowledge of Greek mythology)
and Molly (for constantly challenging assumptions and thinking outside the box).
It takes many people besides the author to bring a book to publication, and I didn’t
fully appreciate this before writing one. I’d like to thank my editors, Andy Oram and
Courtney Allen; my reviewers, Hans Donker, Darren Day, and Edgar Ter Danielyan;
and the rest of the wonderful team at O’Reilly who have guided and supported me
through this.
Finally, I’d like to thank all of my friends, family, colleagues, and mentors over the
years who have answered questions, bounced around ideas, listened to bad puns,
laughed at my mistakes, and actually taught me most of the content in this book.
xii | Preface

CHAPTER 1
Principles and Concepts
Yes, this is a practical guide, but we do need to cover a few cloud-relevant security
principles at a high level before we dive into the practical bits. If you’re a seasoned
security professional new to the cloud, you may want to skim down to “The Cloud
Shared Responsibility Model” on page 6.
Least Privilege
The principle of least privilege simply states that people or automated tools should be
able to access only what they need to do their jobs, and no more. It’s easy to forget the
automation part of this; for example, a component accessing a database should not
use credentials that allow write access to the database if write access isn’t needed.
A practical application of least privilege often means that your access policies are
deny by default. That is, users are granted no (or very few) privileges by default, and
they need to go through the request and approval process for any privileges they
require.
For cloud environments, some of your administrators will need to have access to the
cloud console—a web page that allows you to create, modify, and destroy cloud assets
such as virtual machines. With many providers, anyone with access to your cloud
console will have godlike privileges by default for everything managed by that cloud
provider. This might include the ability to read, modify, or destroy data from any part
of the cloud environment, regardless of what controls are in place on the operating
systems of the provisioned systems. For this reason, you need to tightly control access
to and privileges on the cloud console, much as you tightly control physical data cen‐
ter access in on-premises environments, and record what these users are doing.
1

1 The Verizon Data Breach Investigations Report is an excellent free resource for understanding different types
of successful attacks, organized by industry and methods, and the executive summary is very readable.
Defense in Depth
Many of the controls in this book, if implemented perfectly, would negate the need
for other controls. Defense in depth is an acknowledgment that almost any security
control can fail, either because an attacker is sufficiently determined or because of a
problem with the way that security control is implemented. With defense in depth,
you create multiple layers of overlapping security controls so that if one fails, the one
behind it can still catch the attackers.
You can certainly go to silly extremes with defense in depth, which is why it’s impor‐
tant to understand the threats you’re likely to face, which are described later. How‐
ever, as a general rule, you should be able to point to any single security control you
have and say, “What if this fails?” If the answer is complete failure, you probably have
insufficient defense in depth.
Threat Actors, Diagrams, and Trust Boundaries
There are different ways to think about your risks, but I typically favor an asset-
oriented approach. This means that you concentrate first on what you need to pro‐
tect, which is why I dig into data assets first in Chapter 2.
It’s also a good idea to keep in mind who is most likely to cause you problems. In
cybersecurity parlance, these are your potential “threat actors.” For example, you may
not need to guard against a well-funded state actor, but you might be in a business
where a criminal can make money by stealing your data, or where a “hacktivist”
might want to deface your website. Keep these people in mind when designing all of
your defenses.
While there is plenty of information and discussion available on the subject of threat
actors, motivations, and methods,1
in this book we’ll consider four main types of
threat actors that you may need to worry about:
• Organized crime or independent criminals, interested primarily in making
money
• Hacktivists, interested primarily in discrediting you by releasing stolen data,
committing acts of vandalism, or disrupting your business
• Inside attackers, usually interested in discrediting you or making money
• State actors, who may be interested in stealing secrets or disrupting your business
2 | Chapter 1: Principles and Concepts

2 I recommend Threat Modeling: Designing for Security, by Adam Shostack (Wiley).
To borrow a technique from the world of user experience design, you may want to
imagine a member of each applicable group, give them a name, jot down a little about
that “persona” on a card, and keep the cards visible when designing your defenses.
The second thing you have to do is figure out what needs to talk to what in your
application, and the easiest way to do that is to draw a picture and figure out where
your weak spots are likely to be. There are entire books on how to do this,2
but you
don’t need to be an expert to draw something useful enough to help you make deci‐
sions. However, if you are in a high-risk environment, you should probably create
formal diagrams with a suitable tool rather than draw stick figures.
Although there are many different application architectures, for the sample applica‐
tion used for illustration here, I will show a simple three-tier design. Here is what I
recommend:
1. Draw a stick figure and label it “user.” Draw another stick figure and label it
“administrator” (Figure 1-1). You may find later that you have multiple types of
users and administrators, or other roles, but this is a good start.
Figure 1-1. User and administrator roles
2. Draw a box for the first component the user talks to (for example, the web
servers), draw a line from the user to that first component, and label the line with
how the user talks to that component (Figure 1-2). Note that at this point, the
component may be a serverless function, a container, a virtual machine, or some‐
thing else. This will let anyone talk to it, so it will probably be the first thing to go.
We really don’t want the other components trusting this one more than neces‐
sary.
Threat Actors, Diagrams, and Trust Boundaries | 3

Figure 1-2. First component
3. Draw other boxes behind the first for all of the other components that first sys‐
tem has to talk to, and draw lines going to those (Figure 1-3). Whenever you get
to a system that actually stores data, draw a little symbol (I use a cylinder) next to
it and jot down what data is there. Keep going until you can’t think of any more
boxes to draw for your application.
Figure 1-3. Additional components
4. Now draw how the administrator (and any other roles you’ve defined) accesses
the application. Note that the administrator may have several different ways of
talking to this application; for example, via the cloud provider’s portal or APIs, or
through the operating system access, or by talking to the application similarly to
how a user accesses it (Figure 1-4).
Figure 1-4. Administrator access

5. Draw some trust boundaries as dotted lines around the boxes (Figure 1-5). A
trust boundary means that anything inside that boundary can be at least some‐
what confident of the motives of anything else inside that boundary, but requires
verification before trusting anything outside of the boundary. The idea is that if
an attacker gets into one part of the trust boundary, it’s reasonable to assume
they’ll eventually have complete control over everything in it, so getting through
each trust boundary should take some effort. Note that I drew multiple web
servers inside the same trust boundary; that means it’s okay for these web servers
to trust each other completely, and if someone has access to one, they effectively
have access to all. Or, to put it another way, if someone compromises one of these
web servers, no further damage will be done by having them all compromised.
Figure 1-5. Component trust boundaries
6. To some extent, we trust our entire system more than the rest of the world, so
draw a dotted line around all of the boxes, including the admin, but not the user
(Figure 1-6). Note that if you have multiple admins, like a web server admin and
a database admin, they might be in different trust boundaries. The fact that there
are trust boundaries inside of trust boundaries shows the different levels of trust.
For example, the servers here may be willing to accept network connections from
servers in other trust boundaries inside the application, but still verify their iden‐
tities. They may not even be willing to accept connections from systems outside
of the whole application trust boundary.
Threat Actors, Diagrams, and Trust Boundaries | 5

Figure 1-6. Whole application trust boundary
We’ll use this diagram of an example application throughout the book when discus‐
sing the shared responsibility model, asset inventory, controls, and monitoring. Right
now, there are no cloud-specific controls shown in the diagram, but that will change
as we progress through the chapters. Look at any place a line crosses a trust boundary.
These are the places we need to focus on securing first!
Cloud Delivery Models
There is an unwritten law that no book on cloud computing is complete without an
overview of Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS), and Soft‐
ware as a Service (SaaS). Rather than the standard overview, I’d like to point out that
these service models are useful only for a general understanding of concepts; in par‐
ticular, the line between IaaS and PaaS is becoming increasingly blurred. Is a content
delivery network (CDN) service that caches information for you around the internet
to keep it close to users a PaaS or IaaS? It doesn’t really matter. What’s important is
that you understand what is (and isn’t!) provided by the service, not whether it fits
neatly into any particular category.
The Cloud Shared Responsibility Model
The most basic security question you must answer is, “What aspects of security am I
responsible for?” This is often answered implicitly in an on-premises environment.
The development organization is responsible for code errors, and the operations
organization (IT) is responsible for everything else. Many organizations now run a
DevOps model where those responsibilities are shared, and team boundaries between
development and operations are blurred or nonexistent. Regardless of how it’s organ‐
ized, almost all security responsibility is inside the company.

3 Original concept from an article by Albert Barron.
Perhaps one of the most jarring changes when moving from an on-premises environ‐
ment to a cloud environment is a more complicated shared responsibility model for
security. In an on-premises environment, you may have had some sort of internal
document of understanding or contract with IT or some other department that ran
servers for you. However, in many cases business users of IT were used to handing
the requirements or code to an internal provider and having everything else done for
them, particularly in the realm of security.
Even if you’ve been operating in a cloud environment for a while, you may not have
stopped to think about where the cloud provider’s responsibility ends and where
yours begins. This line of demarcation is different depending on the types of cloud
service you’re purchasing. Almost all cloud providers address this in some way in
their documentation and education, but the best way to explain it is to use the anal‐
ogy of eating pizza.
With Pizza-as-a-Service,3
you’re hungry for pizza. There are a lot of choices! You
could just make a pizza at home, although you’d need to have quite a few ingredients
and it would take a while. You could run up to the grocery store and grab a take-and-
bake; that only requires you to have an oven and a place to eat it. You could call your
favorite pizza delivery place. Or, you could just go sit down at a restaurant and order
a pizza. If we draw a diagram of the various components and who’s responsible for
them, we get something like Figure 1-7.
The traditional on-premises world is like making a pizza at home. You have to buy a
lot of different components and put them together yourself, but you get complete
flexibility. Anchovies and cinnamon on wheat crust? If you can stomach it, you can
make it.
When you use Infrastructure as a Service, though, the base layer is already done for
you. You can bake it to taste and add a salad and drinks, and you’re responsible for
those things. When you move up to Platform as a Service, even more decisions are
already made for you, and you just use that service as part of developing your overall
solution. (As mentioned in the previous section, sometimes it can be difficult to cate‐
gorize a service as IaaS or PaaS, and they’re growing together in many cases. The
exact classification isn’t important; what’s important is that you understand what the
service provides and what your responsibilities are.)
When you get to Software as a Service (compared to dining out in Figure 1-7), it
seems like everything is done for you. It’s not, though. You still have a responsibility
to eat safely, and the restaurant is not responsible if you choke on your food. In the
SaaS world, this largely comes down to managing access control properly.
The Cloud Shared Responsibility Model | 7

Figure 1-7. Pizza as a Service
If we draw the diagram with technology instead of pizza, it looks more like
Figure 1-8.
Figure 1-8. Cloud shared responsibility model
The reality of cloud computing is unfortunately a little more complicated than eating
pizza, so there are some gray areas. At the bottom of the diagram, things are concrete
(often literally). The cloud provider has complete responsibility for physical infra‐

structure security—which often involves controls beyond what many companies can
reasonably do on-premises, such as biometric access with anti-tailgating measures,
security guards, slab-to-slab barriers, and similar controls to keep unauthorized per‐
sonnel out of the physical facilities.
Likewise, if the provider offers virtualized environments, the virtualized infrastruc‐
ture security controls keeping your virtual environment separate from other virtual
environments are the provider’s responsibility. When the Spectre and Meltdown vul‐
nerabilities came to light in early 2018, one of the potential effects was that users in
one virtual machine could read the memory of another virtual machine on the same
physical computer. For IaaS customers, fixing that part of the vulnerability was the
responsibility of the cloud provider, but fixing the vulnerabilities within the operating
system was the customer’s responsibility.
Network security is shown as a shared responsibility in the IaaS section of Figure 1-8.
Why? It’s hard to show on a diagram, but there are several layers of networking, and
the responsibility for each lies with a different party. The cloud provider has its own
network that is its responsibility, but there is usually a virtual network on top (for
example, some cloud providers offer a virtual private cloud), and it’s the customer’s
responsibility to carve this into reasonable security zones and put in the proper rules
for access between them. Many implementations also use overlay networks, firewalls,
and transport encryption that are the customer’s responsibility. This will be discussed
in depth in Chapter 6.
Operating system security is usually straightforward: it’s your responsibility if you’re
using IaaS, and it’s the provider’s responsibility if you’re purchasing platform or soft‐
ware services. In general, if you’re purchasing those services, you have no access to
the underlying operating system. (As as general rule of thumb, if you have the ability
to break it, you usually have the responsibility for securing it!)
Middleware, in this context, is a generic name for software such as databases, applica‐
tion servers, or queuing systems. They’re in the middle between the operating system
and the application—not used directly by end users, but used to develop solutions for
end users. If you’re using a PaaS, middleware security is often a shared responsibility;
the provider might keep the software up to date (or make updates easily available to
you), but you retain the responsibility for security-relevant settings such as encryp‐
tion.
The application layer is what the end user actually uses. If you’re using SaaS, vulnera‐
bilities at this layer (such as cross-site scripting or SQL injection) are the provider’s
responsibility, but if you’re reading this book you’re probably not just using someone
else’s SaaS. Even if all of the other layers have bulletproof security, a vulnerability at
the application security layer can easily expose all of your information.
The Cloud Shared Responsibility Model | 9

Finally, data access security is almost always your responsibility as a customer. If you
incorrectly tell your cloud provider to allow access to specific data, such as granting
incorrect storage permissions, middleware permissions, or SaaS permissions, there’s
really nothing the provider can do.
The root cause of many security incidents is an assumption that the cloud provider is
handling something, when it turns out nobody was handling it. Many real-world
examples of security incidents stemming from poor understanding of the shared
responsibility model come from open Amazon Web Services Simple Storage Service
(AWS S3) buckets. Sure, AWS S3 storage is secure and encrypted, but none of that
helps if you don’t set your access controls properly. This misunderstanding has
caused the loss of:
• Data on 198 million US voters
• Auto-tracking company records
• Wireless customer records
• Over 3 million demographic survey records
• Over 50,000 Indian citizens’ credit reports
If you thought a discussion of shared responsibility was too basic, congratulations—
you’re in the top quartile. According to a Barracuda Networks survey in 2017, the
shared responsibility model is still widely misunderstood among businesses. Some
77% of IT decision makers said they believed public cloud providers were responsible
for securing customer data in the cloud, and 68% said they believed these providers
were responsible for securing customer applications as well. If you read your agree‐
ment with your cloud provider, you’ll find this just isn’t true!
Risk Management
Risk management is a deep subject, with entire books written about it. I recommend
reading The Failure of Risk Management: Why It’s Broken and How to Fix It by Doug‐
las W. Hubbard (Wiley), and NIST Special Publication 800-30 Rev 1 if you’re interes‐
ted in getting serious about risk management. In a nutshell, humans are really bad at
assessing risk and figuring out what to do about it. This section is intended to give
you just the barest essentials for managing the risk of security incidents and data
breaches.
At the risk of being too obvious, a risk is something bad that could happen. In most
risk management systems, the level of risk is based on a combination of how probable
it is that the bad thing will happen (likelihood), and how bad the results will be if it
does happen (impact). For example, something that’s very likely to happen (such as
someone guessing your password of “1234”) and will be very bad if it does happen

4 Risks can also interact, or aggregate. There may be two risks that each have relatively low likelihood and
impacts, but they may be likely to occur together and the impacts can combine to be higher. For example, the
impact of either power line in a redundant pair going out may be negligible, but the impact of both going out
may be really bad. This is often difficult to spot; the Atlanta airport power outage in 2017 is a good example.
(such as you losing all of your customers’ files and paying large fines) would be a high
risk. Something that’s very unlikely to happen (such as an asteroid wiping out two
different regional data centers at once) but that would be very bad if it does happen
(going out of business) might only be a low risk, depending on the system you use for
deciding the level of risk.4
In this book, I’ll talk about unknown risks (where we don’t have enough information
to know what the likelihoods and impacts are) and known risks (where we at least
know what we’re up against). Once you have an idea of the known risks, you can do
one of four things with them:
1. Avoid the risk. In information security this typically means you turn off the sys‐
tem—no more risk, but also none of the benefits you had from running the sys‐
tem in the first place.
2. Mitigate the risk. It’s still there, but you do additional things to lower either the
likelihood that the bad thing will happen or the impact if it does happen. For
example, you may choose to store less sensitive data so that if there is a breach,
the impact won’t be as bad.
3. Transfer the risk. You pay someone else to manage things so that the risk is their
problem. This is done a lot with the cloud, where you transfer many of the risks
of managing the lower levels of the system to the cloud provider.
4. Accept the risk. After looking at the overall risk level and the benefits of continu‐
ing the activity, you decide to write down that the risk exists, get all of your stake‐
holders to agree that it’s a risk, and then move on.
Any of these actions may be reasonable. However, what’s not acceptable is to either
have no idea what your risks are, or to have an idea of what the risks are and accept
them without weighing the consequences or getting buy-in from your stakeholders.
At a minimum, you should have a list somewhere in a spreadsheet or document that
details the risks you know about, the actions taken, and any approvals needed.
Risk Management | 11

CHAPTER 2
Data Asset Management and Protection
Now that Chapter 1 has given you some idea of where your provider’s responsibility
ends and yours begins, your first step is to figure out where your data is—or is going
to be—and how you’re going to protect it. There is often a lot of confusion about the
term “asset management.” What exactly are our assets, and what do we need to do to
manage them? The obvious (and unhelpful) answer is that assets are anything valua‐
ble that you have. Let’s start to home in on the details.
In this book, I’ve broken up asset management into two parts: data asset management
and cloud asset management. Data assets are the important information you have,
such as customer names and addresses, credit card information, bank account infor‐
mation, or credentials to access such data. Cloud assets are the things you have that
store and process your data—compute resources such as servers or containers, stor‐
age such as object stores or block storage, and platform instances such as databases or
queues. Managing these assets is covered in the next chapter. While you can start
with either data assets or cloud assets, and may need to go back and forth a bit to get
a full picture, I find it easier to start with data assets.
The theory of managing data assets in the cloud is no different than on-premises, but
in practice there are some cloud technologies that can help.
Data Identification and Classification
If you’ve created at least a “back-of-the-napkin” diagram and threat model as
described in the previous chapter, you’ll have some idea of what your important data
is, as well as the threat actors you have to worry about and what they might be after.
Let’s look at different ways the threat actors may attack your data.
13

1 Ransomware is both an availability and an integrity breach, because it uses unauthorized modifications of
your data in order to make it unavailable.
2 If you have unlimited resources, please contact me!
One of the more popular information security models is the CIA triad: confidential‐
ity, integrity, and availability. A threat actor trying to breach your data confidentiality
wants to steal it, usually to sell it for money or embarrass you. A threat actor trying to
breach your data integrity wants to change your data, such as by altering a bank bal‐
ance. (Note that this can be effective even if the attacker cannot read the bank balan‐
ces; I’d be happy to have my bank balance be a copy of Bill Gates’s, even if I don’t
know what that value is.) A threat actor trying to breach your data availability wants
to take you offline for fun or profit, or use ransomware to encrypt your files.1
Most of us have limited resources and must prioritize our efforts.2
A data classifica‐
tion system can assist with this, but resist the urge to make it more complicated than
absolutely necessary.
Example Data Classification Levels
Every organization is different, but the following rules provide a good, simple starting
point for assessing the value of your data, and therefore the risk of having it breached:
Low
While the information in this category may or may not be intended for public
release, if it were released publicly the impact to the organization would be very
low or negligible. Here are some examples:
• Your servers’ public IP addresses
• Application log data without any personal data, secrets, or value to attackers
• Software installation materials without any secrets or other items of value to
attackers
Moderate
This information should not be disclosed outside of the organization without the
proper nondisclosure agreements. In many cases (especially in larger organiza‐
tions) this type of data should be disclosed only on a need-to-know basis within
the organization. In most organizations, the majority of information will fall into
this category. Here are some examples:
• Detailed information on how your information systems are designed, which
may be useful to an attacker
• Information on your personnel, which could provide information to attack‐
ers for phishing or pretexting attacks
14 | Chapter 2: Data Asset Management and Protection

• Routine financial information, such as purchase orders or travel reimburse‐
ments, which might be used, for example, to infer that an acquisition is likely
High
This information is vital to the organization, and disclosure could cause signifi‐
cant harm. Access to this data should be very tightly controlled, with multiple
safeguards. In some organizations, this type of data is called the “crown jewels.”
Here are some examples:
• Information about future strategy, or financial information that would pro‐
vide a significant advantage to competitors
• Trade secrets, such as the recipe for your popular soft drink or fried chicken
• Secrets that provide the “keys to the kingdom,” such as full access credentials
to your cloud infrastructure
• Sensitive information placed into your hands for safekeeping, such as your
customers’ financial data
• Any other information where a breach might be newsworthy
Note that laws and industry rules may effectively dictate how you classify some infor‐
mation. For example, the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation
(GDPR) has many different requirements for handling personal data, so with this sys‐
tem you might choose to classify all personal data as “moderate” risk and protect it
accordingly. Payment Card Industry (PCI) requirements would probably dictate that
you classify cardholder data as “high” risk if you have it in your environment.
Also, note that there are cloud services that can help with data classification and pro‐
tection. As examples, Amazon Macie can help you find sensitive data in S3 buckets,
and the Google Cloud Data Loss Prevention API can help you classify or mask cer‐
tain types of sensitive data.
Whatever data classification system you use, write down a definition of each classifi‐
cation level and some examples of each, and make sure that everyone generating, col‐
lecting, or protecting data understands the classification system.
Relevant Industry or Regulatory Requirements
This is is a book on security, not compliance. As a gross overgeneralization, compli‐
ance is about proving your security to a third party—and that’s much easier to
accomplish if you have actually secured your systems and data. The information in
this book will help you with being secure, but there will be additional compliance
work and documentation to complete after you’ve secured your systems.
Data Identification and Classification | 15

However, some compliance requirements may inform your security design. So, even
at this early stage, it’s important to make note of a few industry or regulatory require‐
ments:
EU GDPR
This regulation may apply to the personal data of any European Union or Euro‐
pean Economic Area citizen, regardless of where in the world the data is. The
GDPR requires you to catalog, protect, and audit access to “any information
relating to an identifiable person who can be directly or indirectly identified in
particular by reference to an identifier.” The techniques in this chapter may help
you meet some GDPR requirements, but you must make sure that you include
relevant personal data as part of the data you’re protecting.
US FISMA or FedRAMP
Federal Information Security Management Act is per-agency, whereas Federal
Risk and Authorization Management Program certification may be used with
multiple agencies, but both require you to classify your data and systems in
accordance with FIPS 199 and other US government standards. If you’re in an
area where you may need one of these certifications, you should use the FIPS 199
classification levels.
US ITAR
If you are subject to International Traffic in Arms regulations, in addition to your
own controls, you will need to choose cloud services that support ITAR. Such
services are available from some cloud providers and are managed only by US
personnel.
Global PCI DSS
If you’re handling credit card information, the Payment Card Industry Data
Security Standard dictates that there are specific controls that you have to put in
place, and there are certain types of data you’re not allowed to store.
US HIPAA
If you’re in the US and dealing with any protected health information (PHI), the
Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act mandates that you include
that information in your list and protect it, which often involves encryption.
There are many other regulatory and industry requirements around the world, such
as MTCS (Singapore), G-Cloud (UK), and IRAP (Australia). If you think you may be
subject to any of these, review the types of data they are designed to protect so that
you can ensure that you catalog and protect that data accordingly.
16 | Chapter 2: Data Asset Management and Protection

Other documents randomly have
different content

uncharitable in our method of construing him, let us hear what he
has to say with regard to popular representation. Let us suppose
that monarchy is cleared away as a Sham, or at all events placed in
respectable abeyance, and that there is no farther debate as to
hereditary right or even constitutional sovereignty. Also that we have
got rid of Peers and Bishops. Now, then, as to Congress:—
"To examine this recipe of a Parliament, how fit it is for
governing Nations, nay, how fit it may now be, in these new
times, for governing England itself where we are used to it so
long: this, too, is an alarming inquiry, to which all thinking men,
and good citizens of their country, who have an ear for the small
still voices and eternal intimations, across the temporary
clamours and loud blaring proclamations, are now solemnly
invited. Invited by the rigorous fact itself; which will one day,
and that perhaps soon, demand practical decision, or redecision
of it from us,—with enormous penalty if we decide it wrong. I
think we shall all have to consider this question, one day; better
perhaps now than later, when the leisure may be less. If a
Parliament, with suffrages and universal or any conceivable kind
of suffrages, is the method, then certainly let us set about
discovering the kind of suffrages, and rest no moment till we
have got them. But it is possible a Parliament may not be the
method! Not the whole method; nor the method at all, if taken
as the whole? If a Parliament with never such suffrages is not
the method settled by this latter authority, then it will urgently
behove us to become aware of that fact, and to quit such
method;—we may depend upon it, however unanimous we be,
every step taken in that direction will, by the Eternal Law of
things, be a step from improvement, not towards it."
Was there ever so tantalising a fellow? We only know of one parallel
instance. Sancho, after a judicial hearing at Barrataria, sits down to
dinner, but every dish upon which he sets his fancy is whisked away
at the command of a gaunt personage stationed on one side of his
chair, having a wholesome rod in his hand. Fruit, meat, partridges,

stewed rabbits, veal, and olla-podrida, vanish in succession, and for
the removal of each some learned reason is assigned by the
representative of Esculapius. We give the remainder of the anecdote
in the words of Cervantes. "Sancho, hearing this, threw himself
backward in his chair, and, looking at the doctor from head to foot,
very seriously, asked him his name, and where he had studied. To
which he answered: 'My Lord Governor, my name is Doctor Pedro
Rezio de Aguero; I am a native of a place called Tirteafuera, lying
between Caraquel and Almoddobar del Campo on the right hand,
and I have taken my doctor's degree in the University of Ossuna.'
'Then hark you,' said Sancho in a rage, 'Signor Doctor Pedro Rezio
de Aguero, native of Tirteafuera, lying on the right hand as we go
from Caraquel to Almoddobar del Campo, graduate in Ossuna, get
out of my sight this instant—or, by the light of heaven! I will take a
cudgel, and, beginning with your carcase, will so belabour all the
physic-mongers in the island, that not one of the tribe shall be left!—
I mean of those like yourself, who are ignorant quacks; for those
who are learned and wise I shall make much of, and honour, as so
many angels. I say again, Signor Pedro Rezio, begone! or I shall take
the chair I sat on, and comb your head with it, to some tune, and, if
I am called to an account for it, when I give up my office, I will
prove that I have done a good service, in ridding the world of a bad
physician, who is a public executioner.'"
Mr Carlyle, though he may not be aware of it, is even such a political
doctor. He despises De Lolme on the British Constitution, and
peremptorily forbids his patient to have anything to do with that
exploded system. "I should like to have," says the pupil placed under
his charge, "in the first place, a well-regulated constituted
monarchy." "'Tis a sham!" cries Signor Doctor Thomas Carlyle—"Are
solemnly constituted Impostors the proper kings of men? Do you
think the life of man is a grimacing dance of apes? To be led always
by the squeak of a paltry fiddle? Away with it!" The wand is waved,
and constitutional monarchy disappears. "Well then," quoth the tyro,
"suppose we have an established Church and a House of Peers?"
"Avaunt, ye Unveracities—ye Unwisdoms," shrieks the infuriated

graduate. "What are ye but iniquities of Horsehair? O my brother!
above all, when thou findest Ignorance, Stupidity, Brute-mindedness,
—yes, there, with or without Church-tithes and Shovelhat, or were it
with mere dungeons, and gibbets, and crosses, attack it, I say;
smite it wisely, unweariedly, and rest not while thou livest and it
lives! Instead of heavenly or earthly Guidance for the souls of men,
you have Black or White Surplice Controversies, stuffed Hair-and-
leather Popes;—terrestrial Law-words, Lords, and Lawbringers
organising Labour in these years, by passing Corn Laws. Take them
away!" "What say you to the House of Commons, doctor?" "Owldom!
off with it." "A Democracy?" "On this side of the Atlantic and on that,
Democracy, we apprehend, is for ever impossible." "And why will
none of these things do?" "Because," quoth the graduate with a
solemn aspect, "you perceive we have actually got into the New Era
there has been such prophesying of: here we all are, arrived at last;
—and it is by no means the land flowing with milk and honey we
were led to expect! very much the reverse. A terrible new country
this: no neighbours in it yet, that I can see, but irrational flabby
monsters (philanthropic and other) of the giant species; hyænas,
laughing hyænas, predatory wolves; probably devils, blue (or
perhaps blue-and-yellow) devils, as St Guthlac found in Croyland
long ago. A huge untrodden haggard country, the chaotic battlefield
of Frost and Fire, a country of savage glaciers, granite-mountains, of
foul jungles, unhewed forests, quaking bogs;—which we shall have
our own ados to make arable and habitable, I think!" What wonder if
the pupil, hearing this pitiable tirade, should bethink him of certain
modes of treatment prescribed by the faculty, in cases of evident
delirium, as extremely suitable to the symptoms exhibited by his
beloved preceptor?
Let us now see what sort of government Mr Carlyle would propose
for our adoption, guidance, and regeneration. Some kind of shapes
are traceable even in fog-banks, and the analogy encourages us to
persevere in our Latter-day researches.
Mr Carlyle is decidedly of opinion that it is our business to find out
the very Noblest possible man to undertake the whole job. What he

means by Noblest is explicitly stated. "It is the Noblest, not the
Sham-Noblest; it is God Almighty's Noble, not the Court-Tailor's
Noble, nor the Able-Editor's Noble, that must in some approximate
degree be raised to the supreme place; he and not a counterfeit—
under penalties." This Noblest, it seems, is to have a select series or
staff of Noblers, to whom shall be confided the divine everlasting
duty of directing and controlling the Ignoble. The mysterious process
by means of which "the Noblest" is to be elevated—when he is
discovered—is not indicated, but the intervention of ballot-boxes is
indignantly disclaimed. "The Real Captain, unless it be some Captain
of mechanical Industry hired by Mammon, where is he in these
days? Most likely, in silence, in sad isolation somewhere, in remote
obscurity; trying if, in an evil ungoverned time, he cannot at least
govern himself." There are limits to human endurance, and we
maintain that we have a right to call upon Mr Carlyle either to
produce this remarkable Captain, or to indicate his whereabouts. He
tells us that time is pressing—that we are moving in the midst of
goblins, and that everything is going to the mischief for want of this
Noblest of his. Well, then, we say, where is this Captain of yours? Let
us have a look at him—give us at least a guess as to his outward
marks and locality—does he live in Chelsea or Whitehall Gardens; or
has he been, since the general emigration of the Stags, trying to
govern himself in sad isolation and remote obscurity at Boulogne? If
you know anything about him, out with it—if not, why pester the
public with these sheets of intolerable twaddle?
As to the Nobler gentry, who are to surround the Noblest, whenever
that Cromwell Redivivus shall appear, there is, in Mr Carlyle's
opinion, no such pitiable uncertainty. They may not, perhaps, be
altogether as plentiful as blackberries on an autumnal hedge, yet
nevertheless they are to be found. "Who are available to your offices
in Downing Street?" quoth he. "All the gifted souls, of every rank,
who are born to you in this generation. These are appointed, by the
true eternal 'divine right' which will never become obsolete, to be
your governors and administrators; and precisely as you employ
them, or neglect to employ them, will your State be favoured of

Heaven or disfavoured. This noble young soul, you can have him on
either of two conditions; and on one of them, since he is here in the
world, you must have him. As your ally and coadjutor; or failing that,
as your natural enemy: which shall it be?" Now, this we call speaking
to the point. We are acquainted, more or less intimately, with some
couple of dozen "noble young souls," all very clever fellows in their
way, who have not the slightest objections to take permanent
quarters in Downing Street, if anybody will make it worth their while;
and we undertake to show that the dullest of them is infinitely
superior, in point of intellect and education, to the present Secretary
of the Board of Control. But are all the noble young souls, without
exception, to be provided for at the public expense? Really, in these
economical times, such a proposal sounds rather preposterous; yet
even Mr Carlyle does not insinuate that the noble young souls will do
any work without a respectable modicum of pay. On the contrary, he
seems to admit that, without pay, they are likely to be found in the
opposition. Various considerations crowd upon us. Would it have
been a correct or a creditable thing for M. Guizot to have placed in
office all the noble young souls of the National, simply by way of
keeping them out of mischief? The young nobility connected with
that creditable print certainly did contrive to scramble into office
along the ridges of the barricades, and a very nice business they
made of it when they came to try their hands at legislation. But
perhaps Mr Carlyle would only secure talent of the very highest
description. Well, then, what kind of talent? Are we to look out for
the best poets, and make them Secretaries of State? The best
Secretaries of State we have known in our day, were about as poor
poets as could be imagined; and we are rather apprehensive that
the converse of the proposition might likewise be found to hold
good.
"How sweet an Ovid was in Melbourne lost!"
sighed a Whig critic, commenting with rapture on some of that
nobleman's early lucubrations; and yet, after all, we have no reason
to think that the roll of British bards has been impoverished by the

accidental exclusion. Flesh and blood could not have endured a
second tragedy from Lord John Russell, and yet the present Premier,
despite of Don Carlos, is thought by some partial friends to cut a
tolerably decent figure as a politician. As to that, we shall venture no
opinion. Mr Carlyle, however, is clear for the poets. Listen to his
instance.
"From the lowest and broadest stratum of Society, where the
births are by the million, there was born, almost in our own
memory, a Robert Burns; son of one who 'had not capital for his
poor moor-farm of twenty pounds a-year.' Robert Burns never
had the smallest chance to get into Parliament, much as Robert
Burns deserved, for all our sakes, to have been found there. For
the man,—it was not known to men purblind, sunk in their poor
dim vulgar element, but might have been known to men of
insight who had any loyalty, or any royalty of their own,—was a
born-king of men: full of valour, of intelligence and heroic
nobleness; fit for far other work than to break his heart among
poor mean mortals, gauging beer. Him no ten-pound
Constituency chose, nor did any Reforming Premier."
Of course they did not, and why should they? If Burns was alive at
the present moment, in the full glory of his intellect and strength,
would any sensible constituency think of sending him to Parliament?
Of all the trash that Mr Carlyle has ever written—and there is a good
deal of it,—this about Robert Burns, whom he calls the "new Norse
Thor," not being selected as a statesman, is perhaps the most
insufferable. The vocation of a poet is, we presume, to sing; to pour
forth his heart in noble, animating, or touching strains; not to
discuss questions of policy, or to muddle his brains over Blue Books,
or the interminable compilations of Mr Porter. Not so thinks Carlyle.
He would have shut up Burns in Downing Street, debarred him from
the indulgence of verse, and clapped him at the head of a Board of
Poor-law Commissioners. "And the meagre Pitt, and his Dundasses,
and red-tape Phantasms (growing very ghastly now to think of) did
not in the least know or understand, the impious god-forgetting

mortals, that Heroic Intellects, if Heaven were pleased to send such,
were the one salvation for the world and for them and all of us." Mr
Carlyle seems to have most original notions on the subject of
nature's gifts. It would be as reasonable to say that, because a
nightingale sings more sweetly than its compeers, it ought to be
taken to the house and trained as a regular falcon.
We are very far indeed from wishing to maintain that literary men
may not be possessed of every quality which is most desirable in a
statesman. But instances of this combination are rare, and on the
whole we think that our "Heroic Intellects," and "noble young souls,"
will acquit themselves most creditably by following out the peculiar
bent of their own genius. If they have any political tendency, it will
develop itself in due season; but we protest, most strenuously,
against a Parliament of men of genius, or a cabinet of literateurs. We
have seen quite enough of that in other countries. A more laughable
spectacle, if it had not also been painful, than the Frankfort chamber,
composed very much of suchlike materials, was never given to
public gaze. Old Ludwig Uhland, for all the appearance he made,
had better have stuck to his ballads. In France, Victor Hugo, whose
name is second in literature to none, cuts a most sorry figure. Even
Lamartine is sadly out of his place, though a longer experience of
the Chamber saves him from incurring that constant ridicule which is
the reward of his dramatic brother. Eugene Sue, we observe, is
another noble young soul, who is panting for political renown. Far be
it from us to anticipate his final destiny: as to his deservings, there
can be little difference of opinion.
It cannot be denied that exceptions, and very plausible ones, might
be taken to the very best ministry ever formed, on the score of
talent. Nay, even that ministry known by the distinguishing title of
"all the Talents," could hardly have borne a searching scrutiny. But,
upon the whole, we are by no means convinced that a Cabinet of
uniform brilliancy is a thing to be desired. One light would be apt to
burn emulously beside another. Moreover talent, though an excellent
and admirable quality, is not the only requisite for a statesman.
Barrington was one of the cleverest fellows of his day; yet it might

have been somewhat hazardous to trust him with the keys of the
Treasury. There have been in our own time in the House of
Commons divers noble young souls, of great and undoubted talent,
whose accession to office would by no means have increased the
confidence of the public in Ministers. And there are men now in the
House of Commons who, to a certain extent, agree with Mr Carlyle,
and complain very bitterly that talent is not allowed to occupy its
proper place. At a meeting of the National Reform Association held
on 23d April last, Mr W. J. Fox, M.P. for Oldham, is reported to have
said—"That the great object they had in view was a social
revolution, not gained by blood, or disturbing the constitution, but
raising the aristocracy of intelligence and morality to a place beside
the cliques which had ruled the country merely by the influence of
property and wealth.... An open career to talent was a favourite
maxim of Napoleon, who, so far as he had acted on it, gave the
signal for a great change in the public mind. He hoped that
responsibility would assume the place now held by the interests and
privileges of family cliques, and that talent would thus be made true
to its duties and instincts." Here is another Heroic Intellect quite
ready to take office if he can get it, and ready, moreover, to put the
ballot-box and all manner of extended suffrage into motion, in order
that he may attain his object. We have no doubt that Mr Fox is a
very clever person, and also that he is fully imbued with the same
gratifying impression; nevertheless, we are free to confess that we
would rather see him on the outside, than in the interior of the hen-
roost of Downing Street. There may be persons within it who might
as well, on public considerations, be out; but there are also many
without, who, notwithstanding their vaunted breadth of intellect,
should be kept from getting in. Will Mr Fox venture to aver that, in
Britain, there is not an open career for talent? Now, as ever, talent
will not fail in its aim, provided its possessor is endowed with other
qualities and virtues which are requisite to command success by
securing confidence and esteem.
Let us now suppose that Mr Carlyle has succeeded in his quest after
capable men—that he has fairly bolted his Noblest, like an

overgrown badger, from the hole in which he lies presently
concealed, and has surrounded him with a staff of the Nobler,
including, we presume, the author of the Latter-day Pamphlets.
Noblest and Nobler must now go to work in serious earnest, taking
some order with the flabby monsters, laughing hyænas, predatory
wolves, and blue, or blue and yellow devils, which abound in this
New Era. What is the first step to be adopted? We find it in No. I.
We have transcribed already the commencement of the speech to be
made by the new British Minister to the assembled paupers—let us
hear a few sentences—
"But as for you, my indigent incompetent friends, I have to
repeat, with sorrow but with perfect clearness, what is plainly
undeniable, and is even clamorous to get itself admitted, that
you are of the nature of slaves,—or if you prefer the word of
nomadic, and now even vagrant and vagabond servants that
can find no master on those terms; which seems to me a much
uglier word. Emancipation? You have been emancipated with a
vengeance! Foolish souls! I say the whole world cannot
emancipate you. Fealty to ignorant unruliness, to gluttonous
sluggish Improvidence, to the Beerpot and the Devil, who is
there that can emancipate a man in that predicament? Not a
whole Reform Bill, a whole French Revolution executed for his
behoof alone."
In this style, Noblest proceeds for a page or two, haranguing the
unlucky paupers upon the principle that poverty is crime; taunting
them with previous doles of Indian meal and money, and informing
them that the Workhouses are thenceforward inexorably shut.
Finally, he announces that they are to be embodied into industrial
regiments, with proper officers; and marched off "to the Irish Bogs,
to the vacant desolations of Connaught now falling into Cannibalism,
to mis-tilled Connaught, to ditto Munster, Leinster, Ulster, I will lead
you; to the English fox covers, furze-grown Commons, New Forests,
Salisbury Plains; likewise to the Scotch Hillsides, and bare rushy

slopes which as yet feed only sheep." All these are to be tilled by the
slave regiments under the following penalties for recusancy. "Refuse
to strike into it; shirk the heavy labour, disobey the rules—I will
admonish and endeavour to incite you; if in vain, I will flog you; if
still in vain, I will at last shoot you,—and make God's Earth, and the
forlorn-hope in God's Battle, free of you. Understand it, I advise
you!" O rare Thomas Carlyle!
The language in which this significant and notable plan is conveyed,
is more original than the plan itself. Other Liberals than Mr Carlyle
have propounded the doctrine that the pauper is a slave of the state.
A century and a half ago, Fletcher of Saltoun wrote a treatise to that
effect, and probably a more determined republican than Fletcher
never stepped in upper leathers. But somehow or other, although
Scotland was then less scrupulous in matters of personal freedom
than the sister kingdom, the scheme was by no means received with
acclamation. Heritable jurisdictions were all very well in their way,
but the idea of reducing the peasantry to the state of Russian
serfdom, was rather more than the free parliament of the Scots
Estates could contrive to stomach. It has been very shrewdly
remarked that there is a wide circle in politics, whereof the
connecting link lies between ultra-liberalism and absolute tyranny. Mr
Carlyle, without meaning it, gives us a fair exemplification of this in
the present pamphlets. Messrs Cobden and Bright afford us an
unmistakeable exemplification of it, in their endeavours to frustrate
the operation of the Ten Hours' Bill. M. Ledru Rollin demonstrated it
in his circulars, on the occasion of the first French republican
election. Liberty is a beautiful term, but its true signification is
unknown to the thorough-paced demagogue.
According to the spirit of the British laws, labour can only be
enforced as the penalty of crime. Mr Carlyle would change this, and
would place the pauper upon precisely the same level as the convict.
We are not prepared to say that some important improvements
might not be made in the practical operation of the poor-laws. We
have read various pamphlets, published in this city and elsewhere,
which strenuously recommend the employment of the able-bodied

poor in the reclaiming of waste lands, and their immediate removal
from the towns. There is, however, much more philanthropy than
philosophy in these schemes. In order to discover a proper remedy,
we ought in every case to direct our primary attention to the nature
and origin of the disease; and this is precisely what our modern
philanthropists neglect to do. People do not crowd into towns of
their own choice. Give them their free will, and the means of
subsistence, and one and all of them will prefer the fresh air, and the
sights and sounds of nature, to the stifling atmosphere, the reeking
filth, and the discordant cries of the city lanes and courts. But no
such free will exists: the balance has not been kept between the
country and the towns. No encouragement has been given to the
small manufactures, which in former times were the support of
villages now rapidly falling into decay. The gigantic power of
machinery, set in motion by large capital, has nearly abolished the
hand-loom. Worsted knitting, yarn-spinning, straw-plaiting, are now
rendered almost profitless occupations. In order to live, the villagers
have been forced to migrate to the towns. We need hardly refer to
the earliest of the Free-trade measures, which, by substituting
Spanish barilla for kelp, threw whole districts of the West Highlands
at once into a state of pauperism. At this moment, a new cause is
aggravating the evil. The stagnation of agricultural employment
occasioned by the abolition of the corn duties, has given a new
impetus to rural emigration; and those who cannot afford their
passage to foreign parts naturally seek refuge in the towns. In
another year—if the experiment should be continued so long—the
effects of this last change will become more evident than they are
now. The able-bodied ploughman is the last of the agricultural class
who will suffer. Those who have already been compelled to change
their homes, or to go upon the parish-list, are the cottars, who
derived their subsistence from the employment given them by
resident proprietors. So long as encouragement to agricultural
improvement existed, these poor people never wanted work; but
now the calamitous fall in the price of produce, and the prospect of
a great diminution of rents, have compelled the landlords to
discontinue their improvements, and to reduce the expenses of their

establishments to the lowest possible limit. In this way, country
labour is lessened, and town labour, by the increasing competition of
hands, is cheapened. This is the true secret of all those startling
revelations as to the misery, want, and positive oppression of the
working classes which have lately appeared in the public journals,
and which have engendered in the minds of many a natural despair
as to the destiny of a state in which such things are suffered to
exist. The remedy undoubtedly is neither an easy nor a speedy one;
still, it is by no means to be included in the category of
impossibilities. Machinery, which is the first great cause of British
pauperism, cannot indeed be checked, but it may very easily be
taxed. "An acre of land," says a late eminent writer, "if cultivated,
must pay a tithe of its productions to support the religion of the
state, and an equal contribution with any other property in respect
of the poor, county, and church rates; but mechanical power may
exercise its productive faculty ad infinitum, with but a trifling
reference or liability to either the one or the other. The building may
be rated at £200, £500, or £1000 a-year, but it has a power within it
which, as compared with landed property rated at the same amount,
will produce a hundredfold as great a return—a principle in
legislation as deteriorating in its operation on the masses as it is
unjust to individuals." That machinery, which has changed the whole
character of our population, and which, in fact, has been the means
of creating this stern reality of pauperism, is not taxed upon the
principle of its productive power. That it should be so, seems evident
upon the smallest reflection. Land is not taxed on the principle of
acreage, but on that of value, which again depends entirely on
production. Why should not the manufactory be rated in the same
manner? It is true that, by such a measure as this, pauperism could
not be removed, but it would be materially checked, for the fair
proportion of the burden would thus be thrown on the shoulders of
those who occasioned it. But nothing effectual can be done until the
nation has finally determined what policy it is to pursue for the
future, and in all time coming, with respect to native industry. If Free
Trade is to go on, pauperism must continue like a Upas tree to
spread and overshadow the land. It is not within the range of

possibility that this can be otherwise. No church-extension,
education, cheap literature, ventilation, sewerage, public baths, or
model lodging-houses, can avail to mitigate the evil. It is town
competition—made triply worse by the operation of low tariffs—
which is driving the working classes to the verge of the pit of
despair; and that town competition is increasing, and will increase,
so long as a fresh daily supply of hands is driven from country
labour. The scheme of the philanthropists to whom we have
referred, is to take the surplusage from the towns and to send them
to the country. This, in the present state of matters, is about as
feasible an undertaking as if we were to try to make a stream of
water run up-hill. Why, the misery and indigence which they seek to
relieve, is not the result of mere idleness, dissipation, or profligacy—
it arises from over-competition in one department of industry,
occasioned by the utter want of profitable employment in another.
There would be no need of industrial regiments to cultivate the soil,
if its cultivation were allowed to be remunerative. But to set our
pauper population at work upon anything which will not repay
private enterprise is mere delusion. We have said this much upon a
topic of the greatest interest, and the utmost importance, because
we are convinced that many persons, who are fully impressed with
the magnitude of the evil, have mistaken the remedy from the want
of a due consideration of the causes from whence that evil has
arisen. It is, however, a subject too large for incidental discussion,
and we shall probably return to it on a future occasion, when we can
state our views without reference to the whimsical vagaries of Mr
Carlyle.
So then, the Noblest having made his speech, and wound up with a
significant hint of flogging and pistoling every one of the unfortunate
serfs who shall fail to wield the hoe with becoming alacrity, what
next? Nothing more, in so far as the interests of the working classes
are concerned; at least nothing tangible. Perhaps it would be absurd
to expect anything more. The man who can propound a scheme to
rid us of pauperism, with all its concomitant misery, would be a
greater benefactor to the commonwealth, and to the human race,

than a thousand Howards in one. Mr Carlyle is perhaps the most
strenuous advocate for work that we ever encountered. He would
have made a first-rate taskmaster under the old Egyptian economy.
He is, with great reason, indignant at the state to which our West
Indian Colonies have been reduced by means of Exeter Hall
emancipation, and he scouts emancipation itself as a gross delusion
of the fiend. It is to be regretted that his views have been so late of
ripening. Time was, when a fair and common-sense protest,
advanced by a Liberal philosopher, against the absurdity of
attempting to change the hue of the Ethiopian by a single
momentary scrubbing, might have been of some actual use: now, it
is in vain to recommend a protracted application of the tub. The
Noblest, when Mr Carlyle has discovered him and put him forward,
will hardly achieve his ends by using the following language, even
supposing that he wielded the lightning, and were able to put his
threats into execution.
"Beautiful Black Peasantry, who have fallen idle, and have got
the Devil at your elbow; interesting White Felonry, who are not
idle, but have enlisted into the Devil's regiments of the line,—
know that my benevolence for you is comparatively trifling!
What I have of that divine feeling is due to others, not to you. A
universal Sluggard-and-Scoundrel Protection Society is not the
one I mean to institute in these times, where so much wants
protection, and is sinking to sad issues for want of it! The
scoundrel needs no protection. The scoundrel that will hasten to
the gallows, why not rather clear the way for him? Better he
reach his goal and outgate by the natural proclivity, than be so
expensively dammed up and detained, poisoning everything as
he stagnates and meanders along, to arrive at last a hundred
times fouler, and swollen a hundred times bigger! Benevolent
men should reflect on this.—And you Quashee, my pumpkin,—
(not a bad fellow either, this poor Quashee, when tolerably
guided!)—idle Quashee, I say you must get the Devil sent away
from your elbow, my poor dark friend! In this world there will be
no existence for you otherwise. No, not as the brother of your

folly will I live beside you. Please to withdraw out of my way, if I
am not to contradict your folly and amend it, and put it in the
stocks if it will not amend. By the Eternal Maker! it is on that
footing alone that you and I can live together. And if you had
respectable traditions dated from beyond Magna Charta, or from
beyond the Deluge, to the contrary, and written sheepskins that
would thatch the face of the world,—behold I, for one
individual, do not believe said respectable traditions, nor regard
said written sheepskins, except as things which you, till you
grow wiser, will believe. Adieu, Quashee; I will wish you better
guidance than you have had of late."
The meaning of this passage is, that the black population of our
colonies ought no longer to be permitted to dwell in perfect idleness
in their provision grounds, rearing pumpkins for their own
consumption, without regard to the cultivation of the sugar-cane. As
we have already remarked, this view is somewhat of the latest;
nevertheless truth, like repentance, can never come too late to be
received. Divorced from the folly of his speech, Mr Carlyle's
sentiment is sound. Twenty millions of British money, wrung from
the hard-taxed labour of our people, were given—for what? Not only
to emancipate the Negroes, but to place them in such a position that
they could effectually control their former masters—our own
colonists and countrymen, to whom our faith was solemnly plighted
for the maintenance of their privileges and commerce. Let it be
granted that slavery was a gross sin, was it incumbent upon us to
elevate the emancipated Blacks so high, that they could control the
labour market—to give them the status of untaxed yoemen, without
any security for the slightest manifestation of their gratitude? It was
more than preposterous that those whose freedom was purchased
should be placed in a better position, and invested with more
immunity from labour and want, than the great bulk of the people
who made the sacrifice in order to secure that freedom; and the
result has amply demonstrated the gross folly of the scheme. There
are thousands, nay millions of men in Britain and Ireland, whose lot,
compared with that of the emancipated Blacks of Jamaica, is one of

speechless misery—and yet their cry to be relieved from a
competition which is crushing them down to the dust, is unheard
and uncared for amidst the din of contending politicians, and the
perpetual hum of the busy proselytes of Mammon.
Here we cannot forbear from quoting a characteristic passage from
Mr Carlyle's tracts. The idea is not original, but the handling is
worthy of Astley's humourist; and we commend it to the special
attention of all free-trading philanthropists.
"Certainly Emancipation proceeds with rapid strides among us,
this good while; and has got to such a length as might give rise
to reflections in men of a serious turn. West Indian Blacks are
emancipated, and it appears refuse to work. Irish Whites have
long been entirely emancipated; and nobody asks them to work,
or on condition of finding them potatoes (which, of course, is
indispensable) permits them to work. Among speculative
persons, a question has sometimes risen. In the progress of
Emancipation, are we to look for a time when all the Horses also
are to be emancipated, and brought to the supply-and-demand
principle? Horses too have 'motives;' are acted on by hunger,
fear, hope, love of oats, terror of platted leather; nay they have
vanity, ambition, emulation, thankfulness, vindictiveness; some
rude outline of all our human spiritualities,—a rude resemblance
to us in mind and intelligence, even as they have in bodily
frame. The Horse, poor dumb four-footed fellow, he too has his
private feelings, his affections, gratitudes; and deserves good
usage; no human master, without crime, shall treat him unjustly
either, or recklessly lay on the whip where it is not needed:—I
am sure if I could make him 'happy,' I should be willing to grant
a small vote (in addition to the late twenty millions) for that
object!
"Him, too, you occasionally tyrannise over; and with bad result
to yourselves among others; using the leather in a tyrannous,
unnecessary manner; withholding, or scantily furnishing, the
oats and ventilated stabling that are due. Rugged horse-

subduers, one fears they are a little tyrannous at times. 'Am I
not a horse, and half-brother?' To remedy which, so far as
remediable, fancy—the horses all 'emancipated;' restored to
their primeval right of property in the grass of this Globe; turned
out to graze in an independent supply-and-demand manner! So
long as grass lasts, I daresay they are very happy, or think
themselves so. And Farmer Hodge sallying forth, on a dry spring
morning, with a sieve of oats in his hand, and agony of eager
expectation in his heart, is he happy? Help me to plough this
day, Black Dobbin; oats in full measure if thou wilt. 'Hlunh! No—
thank!' snorts Black Dobbin; he prefers glorious liberty and the
grass. Bay Darby, wilt not thou perhaps? 'Hlunh!' Gray Joan,
then, my beautiful broad-bottomed mare,—O Heaven! she too
answers Hlunh! Not a quadruped of them will plough a stroke
for me. Corn-crops are ended in this world!—For the sake, if not
of Hodge, then of Hodge's horses, one prays this benevolent
practice might now cease, and a new and a better one try to
begin. Small kindness to Hodge's horses to emancipate them!
The fate of all emancipated horses is, sooner or later, inevitable.
To have in this habitable earth no grass to eat,—in black
Jamaica gradually none, as in White Connemara already none;—
to roam aimless, wasting the seed-fields of the world; and be
hunted home to Chaos, by the dire watch-dogs and dire hell-
dogs, with such horrors of forsaken wretchedness as were never
seen before! These things are not sport; they are terribly true,
in this country at this hour."
One other sham, perhaps the greatest which our age has witnessed,
Mr Carlyle accidentally denounces—we mean the late Colonial policy.
If the Whigs have an official aptitude for anything, it is the coopering
up of Constitutions. Is one colony indignant at some outrage or
insult proceeding from headquarters—is another dissatisfied with the
conduct of the Governor, and urgent for his recall—is a third
aggrieved by the commercial vacillation and fiscal measures of a
Parliament in which it has neither voice nor power—the universal
panacea is, Give them a Constitution! We hope the present Ministry

will profit by the following criticism—not volunteered by us, who
neither look upon them with affection, nor entertain any sanguine
hope of their conversion to a patriotic policy,—but penned by a
writer who, not long ago, was considered by their organs as one of
the deepest thinkers of the age.
"Constitutions for the Colonies," says Mr Carlyle, "are now on
the anvil; the discontented Colonies are all to be cured of their
miseries by Constitutions. Whether that will cure their miseries,
or only operate as a Godfrey's Cordial to stop their whimpering,
and in the end worsen all their miseries, may be a sad doubt to
us. One thing strikes a remote spectator in these Colonial
questions: the singular placidity with which the British
Statesman at this time, backed by M'Crowdy and the British
moneyed classes, is prepared to surrender whatsoever interest
Britain, as foundress of those establishments, might pretend to
have in the decision. 'If you want to go from us, go; we by no
means want you to stay: you cost us money yearly, which is
scarce; desperate quantities of trouble too: why not go, if you
wish it?' Such is the humour of the British Statesman at this
time.—Men clear for rebellion, 'annexation' as they call it, walk
openly abroad in our American Colonies; found newspapers,
hold platform palaverings. From Canada there comes duly by
each mail a regular statistic of Annexationism: increasing fast in
this quarter, diminishing in that;—Majesty's Chief Governor
seeming to take it as a perfectly open question; Majesty's Chief
Governor, in fact, seldom appearing on the scene at all, except
to receive the impact of a few rotten eggs on occasion, and
then duck in again to his private contemplations. And yet one
would think the Majesty's Chief Governor ought to have a kind
of interest in the thing? Public liberty is carried to a great length
in some portion of her Majesty's dominions. But the question,
'Are we to continue subjects of her Majesty, or start rebelling
against her? So many as are here for rebelling, hold up your
hands!' Here is a public discussion of a very extraordinary
nature to be going on under the nose of a Governor of Canada?

How the Governor of Canada, being a British piece of flesh and
blood, and not a Canadian lumber-log of mere pine and rosin,
can stand it, is not very conceivable at first view. He does it,
seemingly, with the stoicism of a Zeno. It is a constitutional
sight like few."
With Earl Grey at the head of the Colonial Department, backed and
assisted by that pattern of candour, Mr Hawes—with Lord Elgin in
Canada, and Lord Torrington in Ceylon—the integrity of the British
empire is certainly exposed to peril. But a more dangerous symptom
is the spirit which of late years has prevailed in the councils of the
nation, and owes its origin to the false views and perverse
unpatriotic doctrines of the political economists. They refuse to
admit into their calculations any element which may not be reduced
to the standard of money-value, and they consider that the worth of
a colony is to be measured solely by the returns of its traffic. This is
a leading dogma of Free Trade; and no doubt, were Free Trade
capable of entire realisation, if the nations of the earth had no other
ambition than to buy and sell, after the manner recommended by Mr
Cobden, and if reciprocity were a thing universal, a good deal might
be urged in its favour. If we apply the same test to Ireland, we shall
find that it is greatly for the advantage of the people of Great Britain
to pronounce in favour of Repeal, and to allow the young patriots of
the Emerald Isle to enter into any kind of relationship which they
may choose with the sympathising republicans of France. This is
Free Trade in its plain, undisguised form; and to some such
consummation as this we must come at last, by virtue of the grand
experiment, should that, like Sir Robert Peel's temporary Income
Tax, be extended to a limitless perpetuity. At present, in so far as
regards the welfare of a great portion of the inhabitants of the
country, it is difficult to perceive what advantage they derive from
the boasted character of Britons, except the privilege of contributing
to the heaviest load of taxation that was ever laid upon the industry
of a people. We acknowledge that the Free-traders have planned
their scheme with consummate adroitness and dexterity. If their
object was, as we believe it was, to sap those principles of high

morality, rectitude, honour, and patriotism, which carried Great
Britain successfully through the dangers of wild European revolution,
anarchy, and war, they could not have hit upon a better or a surer
method. Many a disheartened agriculturist has lately asked himself,
what is the nature of the ties which bind him imperatively to Britain,
when a richer soil and a fairer climate can be found elsewhere, a
home not daily harassed by the knock of the tax-gatherer, and the
London market ever ready to receive the product of his industry? It
is not good that these questions should arise in the minds of our
yeomen, for they are calculated to engender a train of thoughts very
hostile to the maintenance of that credit which England dare not
lose, without forfeiting her reputation, her fame, her honour, and her
sway. The thoughts of the colonies have long been bent in a similar
direction; and we doubt not that many of them have been amazed
to find that, so far from being checked in their preliminary
mutterings of revolt, they have the hearty good wishes of the
Manchester men in dissolving their connection with the mother
country, whenever they may choose to do so. Thus do we stand at
present in our home and colonial relations, the clank of the
constitution hammer resounding from the cooperage, and dull-eyed
Imbecility sitting lazily at the helm.
We must now take our leave of Mr Carlyle, sincerely regretting that
we cannot, with any degree of truth, congratulate him either on the
tone or the character of his late lucubrations. These pamphlets, take
them altogether, are about the silliest productions of the day; and
we could well wish, for his sake, that they had never been compiled.
Very few people, we imagine, will be disposed to wait with
confidence for the avatar of his Noblest and Noblers, such as he has
depicted them. Our faith and hopes lie in a different direction; nor
have we any wish to see a Cromwell at the head of affairs,
supported by a staff of noble young souls, poetical or otherwise,
who require to be bought over for the purpose. Towards the close of
his fourth pamphlet, our author lets drop a hint from which we
gather that it is not impossible that his Noblest may hereafter appear
embodied in the person of Sir Robert Peel. All we shall say on that

score is, that Sir Robert has already had sufficient opportunity
vouchsafed him to exhibit the extent of his qualifications. It is not
likely that the Statesman who, in the eve of life, and enjoying the
undiminished confidence of his Sovereign, finds himself in the House
of Commons without the semblance of a party to support him, can
ever make another desperate rally. It would be difficult to find in the
annals of history any instance of a leading politician who has been
so often trusted, and impossible to find one who has so often
abused that trust. Even Mr Carlyle cannot deny the Unveracities of
which Sir Robert stands convicted; and although he appears to think
that lapses from truth are of so common occurrence as to be venial,
we beg to assure him that his opinion is not the general one, nor is
it altogether creditable to the morality of the man who ventures to
express it. We are sorry to observe that, in the conclusion of this
latter tract, Mr Carlyle has condescended to borrow some hints from
that most eminent master of modern scurrility, the late Daniel
O'Connell. This is, in every respect, to be deplored. Wit is not Mr
Carlyle's forte, and this kind of wit, if wit it be, is, when served up at
second hand, both nauseous and revolting. At a calmer moment,
and on more mature reflection, we feel convinced that Mr Carlyle will
blush for the terms which he has allowed himself to apply to so
eminent a genius as Mr Disraeli; and that he will in future abstain
from testifying his gratitude for a humiliating invitation to dinner in a
shape so abject as that of casting personal and low abuse upon the
political adversaries of his entertainer.
If Mr Carlyle feels that his vocation is political—if the true spirit of
the prophet is stirring within him—he ought to endeavour in the first
place to think clearly, and, in the second, to amend his style. At
present his thoughts are anything but clear. The primary duty of an
author is to have a distinct understanding of the matter which he
proposes to enunciate, for unless he can arrive at that, his words
must necessarily be mystical and undefined. If men are to be taught
at all, let the teaching be simple, and level to the common capacity;
and let the teacher be thoroughly conversant with the whole
particulars of the lesson. We have a strong suspicion that Cassandra

must have been a prophetess reared in the same school as Mr
Carlyle. Her predictions seem to have been shrouded in such
thorough mysticism, that no one gave her credit for inspiration; and
in consequence the warnings which might have saved Troy, were
spoken to the empty winds. Here, perhaps, we ought to guard
ourselves against a similar charge of indistinctness. We by no means
intend to certify that Mr Carlyle is a prophet, or that there is any
peculiar Revelation in these Latter-day Pamphlets which can avert
the fall of Britain, should that sad catastrophe be foredoomed. We
simply wish to express our regret that Mr Carlyle, who may lay claim
to the possession of some natural genius and ability, will not allow us
the privilege of understanding the true nature of his thoughts, and
therefore exposes himself to a suspicion that the indistinctness lies
quite as much in the original conception of the ideas, as in the
language by means of which they are conveyed.
As to his style, it can be defended on no principle whatever. Richter,
who used to be his model, was in reality a first-rate master of
language and of verbal music; and although in some of his works,
he thought fit to adopt a quaint and abrupt manner of writing, in
others he exhibited not only great power, but a harmony which is
perhaps the rarest accomplishment of the rhetorical artist. His
"Meditation on a Field of Battle," for example, is as perfect a strain
of music as the best composition of Beethoven. But in Mr Carlyle's
sentences and periods, there is no touch or sound of harmony. They
are harsh, cramped, and often ungrammatical; totally devoid of all
pretension to ease, delicacy, or grace. In short, we pass from the
Latter-day Pamphlets with the sincere conviction that the author as a
politician is shallow and unsound, obscure and fantastic in his
philosophy, and very much to be reprehended for his obstinate
attempt to inculcate a bad style, and to deteriorate the simple
beauty and pure significancy of our language.

THE HUNGARIAN JOSEPH.
The following poem is intended to commemorate a very interesting
episode, which lately enlivened the deliberations of the National
Reform Association. The usual knot of Parliamentary orators having
somewhat cavalierly left the delegates to their own rhetorical
resources, on the third day of conference, and the conversation
having taken a doleful turn, owing to the paucity of subscriptions,
the Chairman, Sir Joshua Walmsley, thought fit to enliven the spirits
of the meeting by the introduction of an illustrious visitor. The
following extract from the morning papers will explain the incident,
as well as the commemorative verses:—
"The Chairman (Sir J. Walmsley) here left the platform, and
shortly afterwards returned, leading a short, stout, elderly,
intelligent-looking gentleman, with a very formidable mustache
and bushy beard of snowy whiteness, whose appearance
created considerable excitement in the audience, and gave rise
to great satisfaction in the minds of several delegates, who were
under the impression that they beheld Mr Muntz, the hon.
member for Birmingham, whose beard is so well known by
report to the Liberal party.
"The Chairman.—Gentlemen, you observed that I left the
platform for a short time, and returned with a gentleman who is
now near me. It is no other than the Joseph Hume of the
Hungarians. (Loud cheers, followed by cries of 'Name, name.')
"The chairman did not appear able to afford the desired
information, and the venerable Hungarian financier wrote his
name on a slip of paper, from which Sir Joshua Walmsley read
aloud what sounded like 'Eugene Rioschy.' (Cheers; and voices,
'We don't know it now,' 'I can't tell my wife;' and laughter.)

I.
No, no! 'tis false! it cannot be!
When saw a mortal eye
Two suns within the firmament,
Two glories in the sky?
Nay, Walmsley, nay! thy generous heart
Hath all too wide a room:
We'll not believe it, e'en on oath—
There's but one Joseph Hume!
II.
Unsay the word so rashly said;
From hasty praise forbear!
Why bring a foreign Pompey here
Our Cæsar's fame to share?
The buzzard he is lord above,
And Hume is lord below,
So leave him peerless on his perch,
Our solitary Joe!
III.
He may be known, that bearded wight,
In lands beyond the foam;
He may have fought the fiery fight
'Gainst taxes raised at home.
And hate of kings, and scorn of peers,
May rankle in his soul:
But surely never hath he reached
"The tottle of the whole."
IV.
Yes, he may tell of doughty deeds,
Of battles lost and won,
Of Austrian imposts bravely spurned
By each reforming Hun.
But dare he say that he hath borne

The jeers of friend and foe,
Yet still prosed on for thirty years
Like our transcendant Joe?
V.
Or hath he stood alone in arms
Against the guileful Greek,
Demanding back his purchase-coin
With oath, and howl, and shriek?
Deemed they to hold with vulgar bonds
That lion in the net?
One sweep of his tremendous paw
Could cancel all their debt.
VI.
How could we tell our Spartan wives
That, in this sacred room,
We dared, with impious throats, proclaim
A rival to the Hume?
Our children, in their hour of need,
Might style us England's foes,
If other chief we owned than one,
The member for Montrose.
VII.
O soft and sweet are Cobden's tones
As blackbird's in the brake;
And Oldham Fox and Quaker Bright
A merry music make;
And Thompson's voice is clear and strong,
And Kershaw's mild and low,
And nightingales would hush their trill
To list M'Gregor's flow;
VIII.
But Orpheus' self, in mute despair,

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