At the moment of d'Ormesson's dismissal, on 2 November 1783, Vergennes' position could not have been more precarious. The comité des finances, his power-base, had been destroyed by internal dissensions. He himself had been forced to within a hair's-breadth of resignation by the revelation of his dubious dealings over Fravemberg and Welferding. His status was now threatened by two new candidates for the ministry, Calonne and Breteuil, who seemed likely to join the ranks of his opponents, Castries and Ségur, and force him and Miromesnil, his only remaining ally, from office. On 19 December, the marquis de Bombelles could refer in his journal to: ‘M. de Vergennes who, decidedly, has passed from the shadow of his former authority and credit to the absolute nadir of power’.

The most important – and neglected – consequence of the crisis of October 1783 was a progressive loss of control by the ministry over the parlement of Paris. This began modestly, in late 1783 and early 1784, but the events of these months began a process that was to culminate in the diamond necklace affair and the chaos of the pre-revolution.

Political stability in the reign of Louis XVI, as pioneered by Maurepas, had rested on close co-operation between the court and the parti ministériel in the grand'chambre of the parlement. Vergennes and Miromesnil had inherited and built upon this consensus, and had used it to underpin the comité des finances. From November 1783, however, this political pact began to break down. That month the comité des finances was dismantled.