In 1792 the buckle makers of the provinces determined to enlist the sympathies of the First Gentleman in Europe on their behalf. They were introduced to the Prince of Wales by Sheridan. They represented that although the interest of the button manufacture had enlisted parliamentary assistance they had no redress against the shoestring. They did not desire sumptuary penalties, but they claimed the personal support of His Royal Highness to obviate the stagnation of trade causing "miseries, emigrations and other horrible consequences." The buckle makers' petition runs as follows: "We beg leave to observe, that when Fashion, instead of foreign or unprofitable ornaments, wears and consumes the manufactures of this country, she puts on a more engaging form, and becomes Patriotism. When Taste, at the same time and by the same means that she decorates the persons of the rich, clothes and fills the naked and hungry poor, she deserves a worthier appellation, and may be styled Humanity. We make no doubt but your Royal Highness will prefer the blessings of the starving manufacturer to the encomiums of the drawing-room. We know it is to no purpose to address Fashion herself; she is void of feeling, and deaf to argument; but, fortunately, she is subject to your control. She has been accustomed to listen to your voice, and obey your commands." The Prince of Wales, followed by the Duke of York, ordered the discontinuance of the use of shoe-strings by members of his household. The buckle makers of London and Westminster followed in the wake of their provincial brethren, by publishing an appeal to the public, complaining that, however mischievous the whim, however effeminate the appearance of shoe-strings, the wearing of them still increased, and hoping that henceforth no philanthropic friend to his country would, by following an evil example, virtually take part in snatching the bread out of the mouths of thousands of poor and industrious families. They also petitioned the King and Queen, the Prince of Wales, the Duke and Duchess of York, the Princess Royal, and her brothers Clarence and Gloucester, to aid them in their extremity. They unbosomed their cares to King George as a parent and protector whose soul was his people's. They assured Queen Charlotte that her disapproval of shoe-strings coming into her royal presence, would suffice to reinstate them in their former blessings; while they told the Princess that if she would but wear buckles, they should no longer remain monuments of silent grief, but commemorate with grateful peals of acclamation the annual return of the day which shone so propitious on their wants. Equally lavish of praise and prayer to the rest of the royal family, they reserved (for some unknown reason) the most extraordinary of their appeals for the Duke of York.