“This book was developed from a part of the doctoral dissertation by Nguyen Xuan Tho. Commenting on the work of Dr. Nguyen Xuan Tho, Maurice Beaumont (1892 – 1981), member of the French Academy of Sciences, Professor Emeritus of the Sorbonne University, on November 15th, 1966 wrote: Nguyen Xuan Tho began collecting in France and in Spain, information and documents for a doctoral dissertation, which he presented and defended at the Sorbonne University in July 1956, on “the French-Spanish Expedition in Vietnam South (Cochinchine) in 1858-1862”. The collection is a work of a historian, accurate in method, elegant in form (presentation). At that time, I was a member of the panel, responsible for the examination and evaluation of that thesis, and the thesis was Tres Honorable. And Mr. Tho continued his work, with this study, on the French penetration into Vietnam (1858-1897). In this work, Nguyen Xuan Tho has devoted a large part of the official documents, much of which has not yet been revealed, to help us better understand some of the several stages in the history of relations between France and Vietnam in the last century. By including in this book the diplomatic documents, which are largely undisclosed, the author attempts to identify some of the early historical stages of the establishment of the French colonial system in Vietnam. At the same time, this work also illuminates us about the tragedy that separates this suffering land of Asia, on both political and religious grounds. This work does not focus much on the method of local administrative organization, conducted by the French in Vietnam, but only emphasizes the political, diplomatic and international dimension of this penetration. This is a very valuable work. This manuscript is unique, superior to most other historians’ work”. (From Internet)