In December 1869, a dispute broke out between two Corsican newspapers, the radical La Revanche, inspired from afar by Paschal Grousset and the loyalist L'Avenir de la Corse, edited by an agent of the Ministry of Interior named Della Rocca.
On the following day, Grousset sent Victor Noir and Ulrich de Fonvielle as his seconds to fix the terms of a duel with Pierre Bonaparte.