ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on episodes and aspects of foreign policy from the two reigns: those of Charles II and William III that were the main concern of later partisan history. It examines the reflections of late Stuart foreign policy in historical writings in the first half of the eighteenth century. James Ralph's attack on William III's foreign policy could be attributed to a typical partisan response to a controversial monarch who had left a contested legacy in foreign affairs. The chapter explores how different writers of various political allegiances understood and reconstructed the conduct of foreign policy of the monarchs. It also analyses how these works reflected the different historical traditions and beliefs surrounding the conduct of foreign policy. Even if a history such as Rapin's was produced independently, it could still be included into a particular partisan tradition. Partisan politics pervaded the writing of history and the treatment of foreign policy within these works.
