text:  Mr East in his pleas of the crown says that "sedition is understood in a more general sense than treason and extends to other offences not capital of a like tendency but without any actual design against the king in contemplation such as contempts of the king and his government riotous assemblings for political purposes and the like; and in general all contemptuous indecent or malicious observations upon his person and government whether by writing or speaking or by tokens calculated to lessen him in the esteem of his subjects or weaken his government or raise jealousies of him amongst the people will fall under the notion of seditious acts