My king,
I have but a single, great and decisive favour to beg of you!
Appoint Prince Hohenlohe-Schillingsfürst at once, - discuss the matter in detail with him, and seek his advice.
You owe it to yourself and your country to take a decisive and independent step: I declare my willingness to accept whatever emerges from your discussions with the prince. Even the laying down of your Crown will seem easier for my sorely afflicted conscience to bear if it emerges from these discussions and can be arranged with dignity as a result.
Out of your love for me - accede to this request, and in that way keep from despair
Your friend who is faithful unto death
Richard Wagner
Source: Selected Letters of Richard Wagner, trans. and ed. Stewart Spencer and Barry Millington (W. W. Norton & Company, 1988), No. 353