Parnell, after the general election of April…

Parnell, after the general election of April 1880 with the land war still raging, believed then that supporting land agitation was a means to achieving his objective of self-government.

Prime Minister Gladstone attempted to resolve the land question with Balfour’s dual ownership Second Land Act of 1881, but it failed to eliminate tenant evictions.

Parnell and his party lieutenants, William O'Brien, John Dillon, Michael Davitt and Willie Redmond, had gone into a bitter verbal offensive against the Act and had been imprisoned in October 1881 in Kilmainham Jail, together with other prominent members of the League, under the Irish Coercion Act.

Together in jail it was easy to decide what action to take.

The famous No Rent Manifesto had been issued calling for a national tenant farmer rent strike.

The Government had finally moved to suppress the Land League on October 20.