The liberals won a great majority in the elections of 1891 on a program of universal suffrage for all men and a separate Norwegian foreign service. As a first step, the new Steen government proposed separate consular services, and negotiations with Sweden were initiated. But royal opposition caused a series of cabinet crises until a coalition government was formed in 1895 with Francis Hagerup as prime minister. That year, the third joint Union committee was appointed, with seven members from each country, but it never agreed on crucial issues and was promptly disbanded in 1898. Faced with saber-rattling from militarily superior Sweden, Norway had to withdraw the demands for separate consuls in 1895. That miserable retreat convinced the government that the armed forces had been neglected too long, and rapid rearmament was initiated. Four battleships were ordered from the United Kingdom, and border fortifications were constructed.