French military operations had been successful during the spring of 1862 and the war-weary Vietnamese Emperor Tu-Duc appointed representatives, Phan Thanh Gian and Lam Duy Hep, to negotiate a peace treaty. The resulting Treaty of Saigon was signed on June 5, 1862 and ceded officially the wealthy provinces of Biên Hòa, Gia Định and Dinh Tuong to France. The so-called "unequal treaty" also demanded and won the freedom of movement and action for the Catholic Church throughout the country. (By John Osborne)
Source Citation
Mark W. McLeod, The Vietnamese Response to French Intervention, 1862-1874 (New York: Praeger Publishers, 1991), 54.