"ملف 61/11 V (D 95) مسائل متنوعة خاصة بالحجاز ونجد" [ظ‎‎٢‎١‎٨] (٥٣٠/٤٥٣)

528
INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS
[JULY
desire in our country, and wishing to unite the parts of this Arab
Kingdom, We decree the following :—
1. The name of the Kingdom of Hejaz and Nejd and its Depen
dencies shall be changed to that of the ' Kingdom of Sa'udian
Arabia' [Mamlakat 'Arabiyat as-Sa'udiya], and our title
shall in future be ' King of the Kingdom of Sa'udian Arabia.'
2. The change shall take effect as from the date of its announce
ment [September 22nd].
3. This change shall not affect the treaties and international
obligations and agreements, which will remain effective and
binding. Neither shall it affect the contracts and agreements
made with individuals, which will continue to be effective.
4. All previous regulations, instructions and orders given by us
shall remain in force after this change.
5. The organisation of our present Government, whether in the
Hejaz or in Nejd and its Dependencies, will provisionally
continue in its present form until a new organisation is laid
down for the whole Kingdom on the basis of the new
unification.
6. Our present Council of Ministers shall start immediately to lay
down a basic constitution for the Kingdom, a rule for succes
sion to the throne, and a regulation for the organisation of
the Government, and shall submit them to us for our orders.
7. The President of our Council of Ministers has the right to add
to the members of the Council of Ministers any person or
persons of intelligence, while the above-mentioned regulations
are being prepared, in order to benefit from their opinions
and to obtain enlightenment from their knowledge.
8. We choose Thursday the 21st of Jumada I, 1351, the first day
of the equinox, as the day on which shall be announced the
unification of this Arab Kingdom."
There are two comments to be made on this Decree. You
will have noticed, discreetly tucked away, is a statement about
a rule for the succession to the throne. That is an adroit move.
There are three possible candidates, the King's eldest son, the
Amir Sa'ud, Viceroy of Nejd, the King's second son, the Amir
Feysal, Viceroy of the Hejaz and Minister of the Foreign Office,
and the King's brother, the Amir Muhammad ibn Abdu'r-Rahman,
who really should have succeeded to the throne in place of Ibn
Sa'ud. Ibn Sa'ud has thrown this matter of the succession on
the Council of Ministers. The British have always been very
fond of constitutions—we come, we see, and we constitute—-
but I would suggest that one of the finest constitutions at present
existing in the world is that in Sa'udian Arabia, which has an
Assembly of sixteen people, eight of them appointed by the