[3] Ulrich von Hassell, a German diplomat who served as ambassador to Italy from 1932 to 1938, had emerged as one of the leaders of the conservative opposition to the Nazi regime.
[6] British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain had invested much hope that German conservatives would persuade the Wehrmacht to overthrow Hitler before the fighting started in Western Europe.
[5] Halifax had claimed that Longsdale-Bryans was not a representative of the British government, but Lonsdale-Bryans introduced himself to Hassell as the "English Envoy Extraordinary (if not plenipotentiary) of the First Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs for His Britannic Majesty".
He cited the Soviet aggression against Poland, the Baltic states and Finland to such an extent that Lonsdale-Bryans believed that Hassell feared the communists more much than the Nazis.
[9] The terms that Hassell wanted for "a permanent pacification and re-establishment of Europe on a solid basis and a security against a renewal of war-like tendencies" called for the Reich to keep Austria and the Sudetenland and for the German-Polish border to be "more or less identical with the German frontier of 1914".
[9] Hassell was willing to accept the restoration of Polish and Czech independence but made it clear that he viewed Eastern Europe as Germany's exclusive sphere of influence.
[9] The rest of Hassell's letter contained a number of generalities about how after Hitler was overthrown, Europe should be guided by leaders who were committed to Christian values and would uphold human rights and social welfare.
[9] The fact that fighting had begun five days earlier with the German invasion of Norway led the British historian Sir John Wheeler-Bennett to note "the discussion of a negotiated peace was purely academic" by now; despite Hassell's claims that the Wehrmacht generals were deeply opposed to Hitler, they were fighting fiercely against British, French and Polish troops in Norway.
[15] In October 1940, Lonsdale-Bryans continued his amateur diplomatic work by trying to set up a meeting with Hitler in Switzerland to discuss peace terms.
[6] Lonsdale-Bryans sent a letter from Portugal to the director of the Schwarzhäupter publishing house in Leipzig, Germany, which had agreed to translate his book The Curve of Fate into German before the war.
[10][15][17] Another memo described Lonsdale-Bryans as "a talkative and indiscreet fellow who is in possession of a story which he delights in telling and which if told publicly would be likely to cause embarrassment to the Foreign Office".
[11] Lonsdale-Bryans was on friendly terms with powerful members of the British aristocracy, including the Duke of Buccleuch and Lord Brocket, who also were Nazi sympathizers.
[17] When Winston Churchill succeeded Chamberlain as Prime Minister, Lord Halifax remained as Foreign Secretary until, in January 1941, he became the British ambassador to the United States.
[citation needed] However, Lonsdale-Bryans "tried to discuss his plans with senior American officials, including Dwight D. Eisenhower",[17] and British General Bernard Montgomery.