The Guelphs of Marseilles brooded over the one idea of crushing the Ghibellins of Arles .-- Already, in the electoral assembly of November, 1791, M.d'Antonelle, the president, had invited the communes of the department to take up arms against this anti-jacobin city.[2425] Six hundred Marseilles volunteers set out on the instant, install themselves at Salon, seize the syndic-attorney of the hostile district, and refuse to give him up, this being an advance-guard of 4,000 men promised by the forty or fifty clubs of the party.[2426] To arrest their operations requires the orders of the three commissioners, resolutions passed by the Directory still intact, royal proclamations, a decree of the Constituent Assembly, the firmness of the still loyal troops and the firmer stand taken by the Arlesians who, putting down an insurrection of the Mint band, had repaired their ramparts, cut away their bridges and mounted guard with their guns loaded.[2427] But it is only a postponement.

Now that the commissioners have gone, and the king's authority a phantom, now that the last loyal regiment is disarmed, the terrified Directory recast and obeying like a servant, with the Legislative Assembly allowing everywhere the oppression of the Constitutionalists by the Jacobins, a fresh Jacobin expedition may be started against the Constitutionalists with impunity.

Accordingly, on the 23rd of March, 1792, the Marseilles army of 4,500 men sets out on its march with nineteen pieces of cannon.
In vain the commissioners of the neighboring departments, sent by the Minister, represent to them that Arles submits, that she has laid down her arms, and that the town is now garrisoned with troops of the line;--the Marseilles army requires the withdrawal of this garrison .-- In vain the garrison departs.

Rebecqui and his acolytes reply that "nothing will divert them from their enterprise; they cannot defer to anybody's decision but their own in relation to any precaution tending to ensure the safety of the southern departments."-- In vain the Minister renews his injunctions and counter-orders.

The Directory replies with a flagrant falsehood, stating that it is ignorant of the affair and refuses to give the government any assistance .-- In vain M.de Wittgenstein, commander-in-chief in the south, offers his services to the Directory to repel the invaders.