Nation of shopkeepers

The phrase "a nation of Shopkeepers" ("une nation de boutiquiers") is a disparaging remark supposedly used by Napoleon to describe the United Kingdom as unfit for war against France.

"L'Angleterre est une nation de boutiquiers."

—Napoleon I

This phrase can be translated from French to English as:

"England is a nation of shopkeepers."

—Napoleon I

The phrase, however, did not originate with Napoleon. It first appears in The Wealth of Nations (1776) by Adam Smith, who wrote:

"To found a great empire for the sole purpose of raising up a people of customers may at first sight appear a project fit only for a nation of shopkeepers. It is, however, a project altogether unfit for a nation of shopkeepers; but extremely fit for a nation whose government is influenced by shopkeepers."

—Adam Smith, The Wealth of Nations^[1]

Smith is also quoted as saying that Britain was "a nation that is governed by shopkeepers", which is how he put it in the first (1776) edition. The amended version is more accurate: before the Reform Act of 1832, many shopkeepers would not even have been able to vote for an MP.

It may have been part of standard 18th century economic dialogue. It has been suggested that Napoleon may have heard it during a meeting of the French Convention on 11 June 1794, when Bertrand Barère de Vieuzac quoted Smith's phrase.^[2]

Smith appears to be answering someone else's assertion. The phrase has also been attributed to Samuel Adams, but this is disputed; Josiah Tucker, Dean of Gloucester, produced a slightly different phrase in 1766:

And what is true of a shopkeeper is true of a shopkeeping nation.

In fact, Napoleon's assertion proved itself wrong. Although Britain had half the population of France during the Napoleonic Wars, the country's manufacturing capacity was greater, so that there was a higher per capita income and, consequently, a greater tax base, necessary to conduct a prolonged war of attrition. According to historian Paul Kennedy, "The enormous sustained demand which Admiralty contracts in particular created for iron, wood, cloth, and other wares produced a "feedback loop", which assisted British production and stimulated a series of technological breakthroughs that gave the country yet another advantage over the French."

The extraordinary confidence in the pound sterling, a money of account like many others, never varied during the shocks of war, though the financial crisis of 1797 could have undermined it. Fernand Braudel found that the fixed value of the pound, which had been stabilized under Elizabeth I in 1560–61 was a crucial element in England's fortunes. "Without a fixed currency there would have been no easy credit, no security for those lending money to the sovereign, no confidence in any contract. And without credit there would have been no rise to greatness, no financial superiority." (Braudel p 356) In 1797 huge quantities of silver had to be exported to ensure the Allies' continued hostility to Revolutionary France. With great apprehension, Pitt convinced Parliament to authorize the temporary non-convertibility of paper money. The resulting Bank Restriction Act, intended to last a matter of weeks, remained in force for 24 years, with banknotes circulating, with no guarantee behind them whatsoever, with no loss of value in relation to gold and silver— essentially the credit system we live under today. The foundation that the "shopkeepers" had built up was so unshakeable, that a Frenchman who lived in England throughout the Napoleonic Wars reported that he had never seen a golden guinea in all the time he was there (Braudel).

Notes

1. ^ The Wealth of Nations, Glasgow edition, 1976), Book IV, section vii. c.
2. ^ Ward, Philip (1978). Dictionary of Common Fallacies. New York: Oleander Press. pp. 172. 

References

• Fernand Braudel, 1982. The Perspective of the World vol III of Civilization & Capitalism, 15th–18th Century
• The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations, 1979, Oxford University Press.
• The Oxford Dictionary of Political Quotations, 2004. [1]