Ludwig had hesitated, instead issuing a statement,…

Ludwig had hesitated, instead issuing a statement, allegedly drafted by his aide-de-camp Count Alfred Dürckheim, which is published by a Bamberg newspaper on June 11.

The Bavarian government had succeeded in suppressing the statement by seizing most copies of the newspaper and handbills.

Anton Sailer's pictorial biography of the King prints a photograph of this rare document. (The authenticity of the Royal Proclamation is doubted however, as it is dated June 9, before the Commission arrived, it uses "I" instead of the royal "We" and there are orthographic errors.)

As the king dithers, his support wanes.

Peasants who rally to his cause are dispersed, and the police who guard his castle are replaced by a police detachment of thirty-six men, who seal off all entrances to the castle.

Eventually the king decides he will try to escape, but it is too late.