I don't know where you get the idea from that France had bad institutions, but I can not disagree more. They have a long track record of stellar institutions, most of the continental law tradition was modelled after the French 'code civil' implemented at the beginning of the 19th century. The grand Ecoles produced excellent scholars and administrators as is also evident from the scientific output in the 19th century, only rivalled (surpasses) by England and Germany.

It was well understood also that any European bureaucracy would be dominated by Frenchmen, because they simply were the best.