[...] The new Minister of Justice, Behr, stands in fairly good repute. I believe I shall do myself no harm if I tell him my mind fully and clearly about my situation. Accordingly I will write to him, calling special attention to the fact that I am now compelled to come to a decision affecting the whole course of my life and begging him to have the records laid before him to see what is charged against me and to inform me subsequently what my prospects might be, whereupon I should decide whether or not to apply for a safe-conduct and submit myself for an inquiry. I shall give him to understand that the state of my health would make it impossible for me to undergo arrest for a long—or even for a short period. [...] I shall then see his answer and upon this answer all will depend. He is sure to lay the matter before the king, and consequently if the letter does not contain express guarantees—or at least sufficient to satisfy me—in the event of my voluntary surrender (in compliance with the forms of the law only), or if on the contrary it is written in the usual dry legal tone, I shall owe it to myself to say "Valet" to my German hopes. [...] If the Minister's answer is such that I must renounce henceforth all prospect of return I should definitely choose Paris for my permanent domicile from next autumn on. [...] Then I should make Strasburg the place where I should habitually first produce my operas, beginning at once this summer with Tristan. [...]
Source: Letters of Richard Wagner, Vol. 2, selected and ed. Wilhelm Altmann, trans. M. M. Bozman (J. M. Dent & Sons, 1927), No. 382