The Harmand treaty was never ratified in France. One of its most problematic aspects, in the eyes of the Quai d'Orsay, was that it had imposed substantial territorial concessions on Vietnam. These provisions reflected Harmand's personal view that France should be aiming at the outright conquest of Vietnam. This was not the view of the French foreign ministry, which believed that it would be safer and more convenient for France to govern Vietnam indirectly, by means of a protectorate. The French foreign ministry drafted a milder version of the treaty, which revised some of the harsher clauses of the Harmand treaty.