https://brilliantmaps.com/eng-gb-uk/

An interesting, albeit simplified version, of the geography of these islands.

Lots of controversy and history hiding in the comments here to underline the point.

the Guardian. ‘10% of People of Colour in Great Britain Would Refuse Covid Jab - YouGov Data’, 7 March 2021. http://www.theguardian.com/society/2021/mar/07/10-of-uks-people-of-colour-would-refuse-covid-vaccine-yougov-data.

Neil O’Brien MP. (2021, January 14). I may... Convene a public inquiry of my own. The experts I’ll invite to sit on the panel won’t be the usual hacks with an axe to grind... They’ll be [like] Sunetra Gupta, the Oxford epidemiologist who believes we may have achieved herd immunity already" Spectator, 25 July [Tweet]. @NeilDotObrien. https://twitter.com/NeilDotObrien/status/1349701118700507137

Liverpool, M. L. P., Clare Wilson, Jessica Hamzelou, Sam Wong, Graham Lawton, Adam Vaughan, Conrad Quilty-Harper and Layal. (n.d.). Covid-19 news: 95 per cent of over 70s in Great Britain given vaccine. New Scientist. Retrieved 22 February 2021, from https://www.newscientist.com/article/2237475-covid-19-news-95-per-cent-of-over-70s-in-great-britain-given-vaccine/

As Steve Jones says in my attached article, the 19th century relationship between the US and Britain was actually quite strong. Doyle is using this brief mention of America to display the relationship between the nations at the time. Though America became independent from the UK in 1776, by the 1800's it has become quite reasonable for someone to possibly seek refuge in "the Colonies".

This doesn't seem very fair.