I found this interesting comparison about West African colonies: "Anyone who has been to West Africa for a while will appreciate that the ex-French colonies are much pleasanter than the ex-British colonies. The people are much more friendly and civilized. The French like to claim that it was due to their benevolent (ahem) policies and the British like to say that the French grabbed the places with nicer tribes. Perhaps the slave trade (by the British) brought out the worst in the peoples who they traded with - let us not forget that it was the coastal tribes that enslaved the populations of the interior before selling them on."
On average, Africans from ex-French colonies seem to speak French a lot more fluently than those from English colonies do English. I think the French may have put more care into destroying their natives original culture and educating them to love France instead.
