Whether it's to be classed as a "love-song" or as a moral exemplar or as a lament in which natural human sympathy might have been accompanied by sympathy with the principles of Revolution ultimately comes down to personal opinion, supported to a greater or lesser degree by knowledge of various aspects of the times.

In 1798, when the Egyptian Campaign began, Napoleon was a General of Division under the command of the Directoire. Only in 1799 did he become First Consul. The plan for a French invasion of the Levant, with a further strategic objective, had been discussed in French military and political circles since Napoleon's childhood.
It's hardly the place to introduce any more specific references, or argue a pro-Bonapartist position or an anti-Bonapartist. Many a revered former leader has done his share of wading in blood, some of them stepping further than Napoleon; few, however, have been as charismatic in his own time and afterwards as Le Petit Caporal.