Tyre, Lebanon
Sepp retired suddenly in December 1867 "for personal reasons". He was appointed to the Zollparlament in 1868, and in 1869 again elected to the Bavarian Chamber, where he was one of the most influential representatives of the German national cause during the critical period between 1870 and 1871. In 1872, he undertook a new journey to Palestine on behalf of the new German Empire. In 1874, Sepp went to Tyre, Lebanon to excavate the remains of Frederick Barbarossa buried there, during the reign of German Emperor Wilhelm I.