Although this collaboration with the invading Europeans was widely criticized by Tộ's Confucian contemporaries, many of whom forwarded petitions to Tự Đức Emperor lobbying for a death sentence for treason, most modern Vietnamese scholars (communist and non-communist alike) are in agreement that his actions were driven by a sincere, if misguided, patriotism. According to these scholars, To's collaboration with the French was based on the assumption that a temporary peace was necessary for Vietnam to buy time to undertake nation building through Westernization, after which a renewed battle against European imperialism and political domination could be successfully fought. This assessment of To's motivations is in line with the fact that while still working as a translator for the French, he informed Vietnamese negotiator Phan Thanh Gian of the French admirals' intention of using the pretender Le Duy Phung of the deposed Lê Dynasty to harass Nguyên imperial troops in Tonkin, and warned Vietnamese court officials that the three westernmost provinces of southern Vietnam (An Giang, Vinh Long, and Ha Tien) were to be the next targets of French imperial aggression.