"so the meritocracy is reserved for France, the foreigners of the empire get the odds and ends of the imperial family?"
Again, please, all I said was a nobility selected by merit. I did not say "meritocracy" at all. Many government positions were filled with only the most informal consideration, and no deeply defined merit-based system was used that I have found. However, among those who by chance were selected and did well, did show some merit, these received nobility as a reward. The mechanism was common across the Empire.
"That's the problem with people who leave no records. People like you and me and Digby can ascribe whatever beliefs they want to them."
Right, that was the whole point. We just dont know what they thought. They may have thought "A" or "not A" and we would never know the difference. Hence polemics, statements made with utter confidence, about "what the people thought" are rather off-base by definition.
I agree completely about the distaste for conscription. Especially for service far from home as opposed to home defense. However, conscription was not a financial question nearly so much as a military one - driven by the pace of capmpaigns. I do not think the economic system of the Empire required conscription on such a scale as did occur. I believe this was casued by the decision to attmept to conquor Iberia and Russia. A consolidaed defensive posture (after withdrawl from Iberia) startign in 1810 wouid have greatly reduced the burden of conscription.