The East India Company had numerous detractors in the first few decades of its existence. Some of its more elite critics attacked the Company openly in Parliament through speeches and bills hostile to the Company's interests, leaving ample records of their dissatisfaction. Those further down the social scale surely grumbled and cursed the Indies trade in public houses, in the streets, and in the privacy of their own homes. As is generally the case, the complaints of these common laborers left fewer traces in the historical record and are more difficult to access. However, in the second decade of the century, a few pamphlets were published promoting the local herring trade as a better alternative for England than long-distance voyages, and they contained implicit and at times very explicit criticisms of the trade being pursued by the East India merchants. Furthermore, although the pamphlets were written by literate men whose rhetorical abilities place them well above the ranks of sailors, shipbuilders, and other laborers, many of the critiques in these pamphlets are articulated from the perspective of the commons, or at least with their interests in mind. They argue for a particular understanding of the value of trade to the commonwealth which includes the support or enrichment of local mariners and their families rather than a generalized “commonwealth” which in practice benefited primarily a merchant and aristocratic elite. They maintain that these societal goods are better achieved by developing England's fishing trade off its coasts than launching fleets of ships halfway across the world mainly to import luxury goods.