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    Who first used the phrase "a nation of shop-keepers" to describe the English? I thought it was Napoleon but I recently read that it was Adam Smith.

    Question #73062. Asked by DerekT. (Dec 08 06 10:43 AM)


    smartie806

    		This website says Smith originated the phrase, which was then quoted by Napoleon.

    http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/12650.html

    Dec 08 06, 10:49 AM
    zbeckabee

    		One of Napoleon's most famous remarks for the English-speaking world is 'England is a nation of shopkeepers', ('L'Angleterre est une nation de boutiquiers'). Whilst Bourrienne, Napoleon's faithful secretary from 1795 to 1802, gives a version of it in his Mémoires (vol. 1, (Paris: Ladvocat, 1831) p. 274 - "Angleterre...a people which he [Napoleon] so disdainfully used to call a nation of shop-keepers ('peuple boutiquier') which hates us", it does not appear in the standard compilations of Napolenoic quotes. The only quotations which have at least documentary backup are those which appear either in the Correspondance of Napoleon or in the Memorial de Sainte-Hélène by Las Cases.

    http://www.napoleon.org/en/fun_stuff/dico/index.asp

    Dec 08 06, 10:50 AM
    DerekT

    		Thanks to you both for your prompt replies and the references.

    It has saved me shooting off a E-mail to our national newspaper criticizing the columnist. Thanks

    Dec 08 06, 4:35 PM

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