The surrender of Metz is expected within the next week. Prince Frederick Charles desires, if I rightly understand, a capitulation on the same conditions as at Sedan and Toul; while the Chancellor, for political reasons, is in favour of a more considerate treatment of the garrison. The King seems to hesitate between the two courses. The Chief said yesterday to the Mayor of Versailles: “No elections, no peace. But the gentlemen of Paris will not hear of them. The American generals who were in Paris with the object of inducing them to hold the elections tell me that there is no getting them to consider the matter. Only Trochu said they were not yet so hard pressed that they need enter into negotiations,--the others would not hear of them, not even of submitting the question to the country.” “I told him finally,” said the Minister, “that we should have no alternative but to come to an understanding with Napoleon, and to force him back upon the French again. He did not believe we would do that, as it would be the grossest insult we could offer them. I replied that it was nevertheless in the interests of the victor to leave the defeated nation under a _régime_ which would have to rely solely upon the army. In such circumstances it would be impossible to think of foreign wars. In conclusion, I advised him not to make the mistake of thinking that Napoleon had no hold upon the people. He had the army on his side. Boyer had negotiated with me in the name of the Emperor. How far the present Government in Paris had the support of the people remained to be seen. The rural population could hardly share the opinion that peace was not to be thought of. He then gave his own view respecting the conditions of peace, namely, the razing of their fortresses and ours, and the disarmament of both countries in proportion to the population, &c. As I told him at the commencement, these people have no right conception of what war really is.” The _Nouvelliste_ being now the only newspaper in Versailles, and as it sensibly avoids unnecessarily hurting the patriotic sentiments of the French, the people here take some account of it. Löwinsohn tells us that the number of copies sold varies, some issues have been quite cleared out, while of others he has only thirty to fifty, and of yesterday’s 150 copies on hand. Up to the present his weekly balance shows no loss.