A nation of shopkeepers

" A Nation of Shopkeepers" ("L'Angleterre est une nation de boutiquiers") is a disparaging remark supposedly used by Napoleon to describe the United Kingdom as unfit for war against France. The phrase was not, however, original. Napoleon could have found it 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."
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Meaning
The English.
Origin
Adam Smith, in his Wealth of Nations, 1776, wrote 'To found a great empire for the sole purpose of raising up a people of customers, may at first sight appear a project altogether unfit for a nation of shopkeepers; but extremely fit for a nation that is governed by shopkeepers. Napoleon I, who was familiar with Smith's work, is reported as later using the phrase. Josiah Tucker, the Dean of Gloucester, preceded them both by referring to England as a shopkeeping nation.