Letter sent to French town in 1790 finally arrives at its correct destination 220 years later

Instead it arrived at the village of Saix, some 150 miles away, where it remained in a local sorting office because the addressee could not be found. At the time there was a lot happening in the area, not least the French Revolution, which meant the letter was largely forgotten about for the next two […]

Instead it arrived at the village of Saix, some 150 miles away, where it remained in a local sorting office because the addressee could not be found.

At the time there was a lot happening in the area, not least the French Revolution, which meant the letter was largely forgotten about for the next two centuries.

It remained at the bottom of a drawer throughout the Napoleonic period, through two world wars including a Nazi occupation, right up until the present day.

In 1999 a Saix archivist logged the letter while sorting out local council records and now – a decade later – a motion has finally been passed to get the letter to Seix.

It was opened and found to be an official note from the authorities in Paris informing Seix officials that their request to make their town the capital of their municipality had been refused.

Henri Blanc, the mayor of Saix, took the decision to finally deliver the letter, saying: ‘It was about time.’

Taking no chances with another failed delivery, Mr Blanc said his colleagues would make the two hour drive to Seix to hand over the envelope in person on June 5.

France is a notoriously bureaucratic country, where almost every decision has to be accompanied by paperwork.