French military operations had been successful during the spring and on May 16, 1862 the war-weary Vietnamese Emperor Tu-Duc appointed representatives, Phan Thanh Gian and Lam Duy Hep, to negotiate a peace treaty. The Treaty of Saigon was signed on June 5, 1862. This so-called "unequal treaty" ceded officially the wealthy provinces of Biên Hòa, Gia Định and Dinh Tuong to France and secured 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.